Faf du Plessis admits he is yet to see a cricketer with the same skills to finish a game as his Chennai Super Kings teammate MS Dhoni. South Africa Test skipper du Plessis, who has played under Dhoni at CSK feels the former India captain’s uniqueness is what makes him a class apart, be it in terms of reading the situation, doing the math in his head or taking calculative decisions.
“He’s (Dhoni) extremely calm. I haven’t played with someone who is a better finisher than him. It’s just remarkable to watch him from the side of the field,” Du Plessis said during a Facebook chat with Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal. “If someone else tries to do it like him they won’t be able to. He’s just so unique like he times the ball so late he’s got an incredible calmness. He knows his game and he picks a bowler and goes for it.”
Du Plessis, who played for CSK between 2011 and 2015 and later again during the 2018 season, went on to explain how Dhoni stands out in his decision making and how the former India captain changed his opinion about captaincy.
“He reads the others player really well and he uses that to make instinctive decisions on the field. He’s got an incredible gut feeling on the game and I think that’s his biggest strength,” the South Africa Test skipper added.
“It was amazing for me to see how different MS was as a captain. I used to think a captain must speak all the time in team meetings etc but MS was completely different. He doesn’t believe a lot in team meetings. He’s a very instinctive captain he’s got such a good cricket brain that he relies on it to make the right decisions on the field.”
Having led in 36 Tests, 39 ODIs and 40 T20Is, of which South Africa won 18, 28 and 25 respectively, du Plessis said he is lucky to have picked up the brains of Dhoni and Stephen Fleming during his stay at CSK.
“I’m lucky to have started my journey there at CSK because I have really learned a lot from a leadership point of view. I tried to learn as much as possible from Dhoni and Stephen Fleming because both are great captains,” he said.
