“MS Dhoni is a Magician”- Mathew Hayden Praises CSK Skipper Ahead of IPL 2023 Final

Chennai Super Kings’ skipper MS Dhoni has shown some brilliant leadership skills right through the IPL 2023 season and has taken his side to the IPL 2023 Final. Ahead of the final, former Australian cricketer Mathew Hayden hailed MS Dhoni for his captaincy and stated that he is a magician.

Former opener Mathew Hayden, who has represented the Chennai Super Kings franchise in the initial years of the cash-rich league discussed Dhoni’s leadership while speaking to PTI. He credited him for bringing out the best of the players despite having limited options, especially in the bowling unit.

“MS is a magician. He takes someone else’s trash and makes them a treasure. He is a very skillful and positive captain. He said something really interesting which I thought summed up not only his humility and his truth around cricket where he is represented and that is in Tamil Nadu Cricket Association,” Hayden Said while speaking to PTI.

There is a systematic way of going through things and working through them: Mathew Hayden

“The alignment between that association and the franchise, how strong that is in terms of building that process. To me, that is MS. There is a systematic way of going through things and working through them. He did that for India and he is doing it for Chennai Super Kings,” the former opener further discussed about Dhoni’s captaincy.

MS Dhoni backed young pacers Matheesha Pathirana and Tushar Deshpande throughout IPL 2023 and eventually got great results out of them. Pathirana has scalped 17 wickets in 11 games at an economy rate of 7.72, while Deshpande has picked up 21 wickets in 15 games at an economy rate of 9.61.

Ajinkya Rahane had lost his place in the Indian squad and wasn’t getting enough opportunities in the IPL as well. However, his fortunes changed under the leadership of MS Dhoni as he played some aggressive knocks this season.

The CSK skipper has got great returns from Shivam Dube as well who hasn’t scored enough runs for any of his previous franchises. Shivam Dube has scored 386 runs in 15 games and has been Chennai Super Kings’ most vital batter in the middle order for the last two IPL editions.