Former India speedster Zaheer Khan has been a phenomenal bowler for Team India. He is one of the very few players, who has played under the leadership of two greatest Indian captains Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni.
Now the veteran player has revealed that both the captains had lots of similarities. Zaheer expressed that both Saurav and Dhoni had an amazing quality of guiding youngsters in the team. The left-arm bowler said that when he came into the team, it was Ganguly who showed belief in him which helped to raise his confidence. Zaheer said that he noticed a similar quality in Dhoni when he became the skipper of the Indian team.
“Absolutely, that’s what you need at that stage of your career (push from Ganguly). When you’re starting your careers at the international level, you need all the support you can, and then it will be up to you to shape your career. But that initial support is very vital,” Zaheer told TV presenter Gaurav Kapur in a YouTube chat show.
Zaheer stated that when Dhoni became the skipper, there were already senior guys in the team, who had the experience of international cricket but once they left, the youngsters came in the squad. Dhoni did the same thing with the young players like Ganguly did when he was the leader.
“Both of them have led India for a long time. With MS (Dhoni), I have seen that change as well. When MS got the team, he had a lot of senior players who were experienced at the international level. So he didn’t have to do much in terms of getting them up to speed. But once all those guys started retiring, when the young batch came in, he played a similar kind of role what Dada was doing with the young lot,” said Zaheer.
The Mumbaikar further added that in Indian cricket every decade, one has seen a promising and skilful player becoming a captain of the side.
“In Indian cricket, every decade the captain has passed the baton to the next in line and the person who has taken the baton has led to the team to the next level,” the 41-year-old added.
Zaheer played 92 Tests, 200 ODIs and 17 T20Is for India, in which the Shrirampur-born grabbed 311, 282 and 17 wickets, respectively.
