Dhoni's leadership qualities

"Cool as cucumber". That saying is probably history for the Indians. They now say "cool as Dhoni". Yes! That is one of the many attributes of this man. Always cool, calm,composed. That is his Brand image and he has worked hard at it. Whatever be the situation, however much the pressure and tension, one hardly sees Dhoni getting rattled or tensed. Don't get me wrong. He must be feeling all the tension and pressure inside of him. Everyone faces pressure-cooker situations in life. It is how you deal with them that separates the good from the great. People who say they don't feel pressure or fear are telling a lie. Every leader feels it. But great leaders don't show it outside. The leaders' body language is keenly watched by his team and Dhoni has always excelled in this aspect with his positive energy.

He must be one of the very few sports leaders who have led different groups of people and still delivered the winning mantra on each occasion. Starting with the T-20 world cup win in 2007, he brought India to No.1 ranking in both the Test and O.D.I format. He also led the Chennai Super Kings(CSK) to its IPL win as also in the Champions league. To lead the Indian test team consisting of the senior stalwarts and then leading and nurturing the youngsters in the other formats of the game shows his man management and motivational skills as a leader.

In the 2011 world cup final match, he promoted himself up the batting order even though he has had a below par batting performance in the tournament. That required guts and sent a clear message to the opposition that " i am going to take you on". When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Dhoni proved that by leading from the front and taking Team India to victory.



There is a lot one can learn about Leadership attributes from Dhoni . One hopes that once Dhoni hangs his boots, he would probably use these Leadership skills to better and bigger use to society in general.

Introspection time for Chennai Super Kings(CSK)

Five down and nine matches to go for CSK in the league stage in the IPL 3. With just two wins so far, they are not exactly in the comfort zone. Experienced heads in the team will come together to analyze and evolve a strategy for the games ahead. But let us be proactive and look at the positives and negatives that have emanated so far and see where exactly CSK have gone wrong and the corrective actions needed.

The positive take from the five matches so far has been the brilliant bowling of Murali followed by Morkel and to a lesser degree by Balaji. In batting Dhoni (till he was injured) is in form, Hayden is shaping well and there has been bits and pieces knock by Raina, Badrinath.

The negatives so far have been a handful. Bowling at the “death overs” has been a major cause of concern. Against the Deccan Chargers and the Royal Challengers (RCB), CSK gave away close to thirteen runs per over in the last five overs. The other area of worry is the way batsmen get into panic mode. This was visible in the last two games. Against Kings X1, Punjab, needing just 5.4 runs per over in the last eight overs with nine wickets in hand, CSK blew it away. CSK fans would have really missed Dhoni’s cool temperament in these times. Surprisingly, fielding has let the team down in some of the matches especially against RCB.

The road ahead requires clear planning and execution. The return of Dhoni shortly would be a great morale booster. That would really strengthen the batting and exert a calming influence on the players. Depending on the team composition, Morkel /Murali /Kemp should be used in the last five overs to avoid big leakage of runs and Balaji /Ashwin /Tyagi to finish their quota before.