‘Best captain of IPL after MS Dhoni’ – Virender Sehwag picks THIS player

MS Dhoni is the only captain in the history of the IPL to have won 100 games as a skipper from a single franchise. Dhoni has led Chennai Super Kings to the knock-out stages of every edition of the Indian Premier League that they were part of. MS Dhoni also has the highest success rate percentage when it comes to the Indian Premier League. However, Virender Sehwag, the former India opener has a different view on this. In an interaction on Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag has named Rohit Sharma as the best captain in the IPL after MS Dhoni.

“I have always been saying that Rohit Sharma is the best captain in this tournament after MS Dhoni. The way he understands the game and makes tactical changes, it’s simply outstanding,” Sehwag said.

Sehwag pointed out the tactics used by Rohit Sharma in Mumbai Indians’ win against Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi. His introduction of Kieron Pollard against the well-set partnership duo of Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik upset the momentum of KKR. Pollard got his first IPL wicket since 2015 and they could not bounce back.

“Had there been any other captain instead of Rohit in the game against Kolkata, he would’ve used Krunal Pandya against Nitish Rana -- move that would’ve backfired. Instead, Rohit put Pollard up against Rana and the West Indian kept the run-flow under check. Pollard’s timing also has to be noticed here. Had Rohit brought him against a set right-hander, he would’ve conceded more runs. Usually, Pollard concedes around 25 runs in an over, but that wasn’t the case this time,” Sehwag said.

Rate Dhoni captaincy 4/10

Sehwag had earlier criticised MS Dhoni’s captaincy in Chennai Super Kings’ 16-run loss against Rajasthan Royals. Dhoni was criticised for coming lower down the order when the game was already up and although he redeemed himself with three sixes in the final over, Sehwag rated his captaincy 4/10.

“The three sixes that MS Dhoni hit in the last over made it feel like CSK came close to the target, but the reality was something different. In the middle, it looked like Dhoni wasn’t even trying to chase the target considering the number of dot balls he played. The run-rate slowed down in the middle overs. If that hadn’t happened and about 20-22 runs were required to win in the last over, the three sixes that Dhoni hit would’ve made people say ‘wow, what a finish,” Sehwag said.