Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh elaborated on the various ways two of the country’s World Cup-winning captains, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, handle their players.
MS Dhoni And Rohit Sharma Are Completely Different Leaders
Dhoni led India to victories in the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. He handled the players by allowing them to commit mistakes and learn from them. Contrasting that is Rohit Sharma, who took over the reins from Dhoni and went on to win the T20 World Cup in 2024, has always been praised for his personalized approach: individual support and confidence he imparts to each player. Harbhajan has played under some of India’s finest captains-like Sourav Ganguly and Dhoni-along with Rohit Sharma. He liked the way each of their unique styles brought out the best among their teams.
“Dhoni and Rohit are completely different leaders nature-wise,” said Harbhajan Singh on the podcast Find a Way with Taruwar Kohli. “MS Dhoni will never go to a player and will ask him what do you need. He lets you learn from your mistakes.”
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“I remember a game when we were playing for CSK. MS Dhoni was keeping and I was fielding at short fine leg,” Harbhajan recalled. “Shardul Thakur was bowling and the first ball Kane Williamson hit him down the ground for a four. Next ball, same result. I went to Dhoni and asked him that he should tell Shardul to try something different.”
“MS replied, ‘Paaji, if I tell him today, then he will never learn.’ His thought process is: ‘Let him take the beating, he’ll learn by himself.’ That was MS Dhoni’s way,” he added.
“He’s very different, he will talk to each player. He is someone who will put his arm around your shoulder and tell you what is expected from you. He will give you that energy that ‘yes you can do it’. He was leading Mumbai Indians for almost 13 years and then led India – the experience comes in handy.” Harbhajan gave his point of view on Rohit Sharma.
Test Cricket Polishes Captaincy
According to Harbhajan Singh, Limited-match overs don’t teach you enough, its the Test matches which truly showcase your captaincy skills.
“When you captain in Tests, then you learn a lot. In limited overs matches, you end up overlooking a lot of moments. But a Test captain has to decide the pace at which a Test should progress, work on a strategy on how to win matches – that’s the mark of a strong captain. Steve Waugh was a superb Test captain. Shane Warne may not have been a captain (for Australia) but had a great cricketing brain,” he said.
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“Shane Warne was like Rohit bhai. In the warm-up, he would approach us during the team huddle and remind everyone of their player. You learn a lot by watching good captains,” he said.
Harbhajan remarked that Sourav Ganguly was exceptional at allowing players the freedom to express themselves, which ultimately enabled him to maximize their potential.
“As a player, all you want a bit of support from your captain and then you can go express yourself,” Harbhajan said. “Sourav Ganguly was probably the best in that. During his era, he gave us the freedom. We all were different – Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, me. Without changing anyone, he took the best out of everyone. Sourav Ganguly was a brilliant man manager.”
“Dhoni carried forward Ganguly’s legacy and then Rohit continued. Whoever becomes the next India captain, they should also learn and take things forward,” he added.
