Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey has had the opportunity to play under some of the best captains of world cricket. Whether it was playing under Ricky Ponting or Michael Clarke for Australia or playing under MS Dhoni for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, and under Rohit Sharma in Mumbai Indians, Hussey has played with leaders who were not only best in their domain but also had the ability to change the course of a match by their captaincy.
While explaining the captaincy styles of MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Ricky Ponting, and Michael Clarke, Hussey said they were different characters but had the same desire to win.
Ricky Ponting
Hussey, who made his debut under Ricky Ponitng, said the former Australia captain was someone who dragged the whole team along with him towards the common goal of victory.
“They are all very different characters. Ricky Ponting was so competitive and led from the front and backed his players 100%. He wanted to win so badly and dragged the whole team along with him,” Hussey said in a podcacst called Hostpot with Chetan Narula.
Michael Clarke
Talking about Australia’s 2015 World Cup-winning captain Michael Clarke, Hussey, who has played 21 Tests, 33 ODIs, and 11 T20Is under him, said he had a very good tactical brain.
“I would say Michael Clarke was very tactical and very good brain on the cricket field, knew when to bowl certain bowlers and things like that,” Hussey said.
MS Dhoni
While describing MS Dhoni, under whom he has played six seasons of IPL for CSK, Hussey said: “MSD… he has a great intuition for the game but he is also very calm and cool, backs his players enormously and shows a lot of faith in them,” Hussey added.
Rohit Sharma
About India’s limited-overs vice captain Rohit Sharma, Husey said: “Rohit was much the same. He is very calm under pressure and tactically very sound as well. All of them had this ability to take pressure off players and I think that was a good thing,” Hussey added.
While further comparing leadership skills two-time World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting and the only captain to have all three ICC tournaments to his name MS Dhoni, Hussey said both of them had the same reaction irrespective of success or failure.
“Whether the team is going really well or going poorly, they are just consistent and calm with their personalities. Ricky, for example, whether he scored a hundred or scored a duck, he was just the same person. MSD, whether won four games in a row or lost four games in a row, he is exactly the same person. I think that is a very good attribute to have from a leadership point of view and it rubs off on everyone else on the team.
“If you have an emotional character as captain who is always going up and down, the team rides those waves with the captain, but if a captain is control and calm, and consistent with his personality, then that really helps the team,” Hussey said.
