Think Kohli and team will win more games than me: Dhoni

Think Kohli and team will win more games than me: Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy graph, that stretched for a period of close to 10 years, has experienced a lot of wavering. He took over during a delicate phase of transition, had seniors make way for tyros and recorded for some of the best highs under his watch. The high-pressure job of leading a team like India could keep the focus on results and results alone, but for the man who has been at the helm for almost a decade, there were other smaller aspects that turned out to be the most satisfying parts of being at the helm.

"The main job of the captain is to make sure that whatever is the potential of the player, he is performing to a 100 percent. Usually, if you can achieve something between 90 to 110 percent, you know you've done really well," he said in a press conference on Friday (January 13).

An Indian national side has always been a mixed bag. Players of contrasting temperaments, mindsets and geographical belongings have made it big, and man management becomes a very tough but integral part of a successful leadership regime. Dhoni's success over the years could be attributed to his ability to find the right method of handling and motivating each individual in his squad, even if it meant giving someone false confidence.

"You can't really get 150 percent performance from a player who is 80 percent. That's where you have to be very practical, very honest. You should know ways to how to handle each and every individual. There are different ways to handle everyone - for some it is a kind word, for some it is a harsh word. For some, it may be just expression with your eyes.

"So you have to figure out what really works the best, at times it maybe the false confidence you give the guy because that is what is really needed at that point of time. You have to be clever enough to evaluate as to this is what is needed at that point of time."

As India step into a new era of limited-overs cricket, there is an expected sense of anticipation as to how the team will fare under a new skipper and live up to the lofty expectation set by Kohli's predecessor. Dhoni, who believes he has timed his leadership exit to perfection, reckons the times ahead are only going to get better for Indian cricket.

"If it is about the numbers, I think Virat and this team will win more games than me in all the formats. I feel this will be the most successful Indian cricket team ever, on a consistent basis. Because that's the kind of potential they have, that's the kind of experience they have."

That the current core group is young and has yet a lot of experience in high-pressure games will hold them in good stead, reckons Dhoni. He goes a step further and expects the them to 'rewrite history', something that he managed with a lot of success as captain.

"Though they're young, they've played a lot of cricket, both in India and outside, and in pressure situations. They have played in knockout tournaments and they've played under pressure. We've played a lot of Tests in India but they were not easy Test matches - we played on a lot of turning wickets where a lot of contribution was very important. At the end of the game, you may see it as 'okay we won by so many runs' but actually it was much closer than what the scorecard really depicts."

"It (the team) has the recipe to do everything and I firmly believe this will be the team that will rewrite history, if you want to say it. I think they will do something very special in the coming years."