Out of all the legendary traits of MS Dhoni, one of the greatest of them all is the calmness he posses under immense pressure. It’s not that he does not have a nerve that feels pressure it’s that how well he controls his nerves under pressure!

Throughout his career MS Dhoni has been goal oriented, he knows what he wants to achieve and has always been focused on the target under any and every circumstance. He has never bothered about the obstacles that would come in his path towards achieving his goal because he has full faith in his own abilities. He works very hard and has been a source of motivation for others around him, be it as a performer or as a captain. As a performer and professional he has been incredible, he understands match situation better than almost anybody else and takes the game deeper and hunts down the target while chasing, hence once was regarded as the greatest chaser of all time and it was during his era Indian team became chase masters, according to MS Dhoni the bowler is equally as much under pressure as the batsman so when the batsman remains calm and plays according to the situation the bowler starts to feel the pressure that much more and the chances are that he will make mistakes and then a good batsman capitalizes on those mistakes. He rarely panics under pressure and this quality of his separates him from the rest. He understands what he wants to achieve and tries to achieve that with combined team effort. He believes in proper communication and keeps things simple. He never bothers about what the media is saying or what the outside world is saying, Dhoni’s complete focus remains on his task and this attribute of Dhoni has motivated lots of young cricketers in the social media era where you can easily get distracted thanks to barrage of messages from fans and critics all across the globe.

MS Dhoni has been inspirational all across the globe with his leadership qualities and work ethic, he is a work horse and one of the most disciplined individual throughout nation India. Players all around the world praise and salute him for his incredible contribution towards the game as well as his country. Numerous cricketers on record have mentioned his importance both on the field and inside the dressing room that how he motivates others with his efforts and guidance, he is having a sharp brain and has numerous times changed the match on it’s head with his decision making and instincts. With his unorthodox yet effective batting and keeping style Dhoni told the world that to be successful you don’t always have to follow the book and the dictionary, it is your dedication, self confidence, calculative risk taking abilities and how you handle the pressure that truly defines you as an individual. MS Dhoni has been chosen as the captain of ICC test team of the year twice and captain of ODI team of the year record 5 times, says enough about how inspiration his leadership qualities were when he was representing India as an active cricketer.

MS Dhoni is synonym to commitment. His commitment towards his task, his profession and his country has helped cement his legacy as one of the greatest leader the country has ever seen, be it any field or profession. During any match he used to be fully committed to the task, and team above individual has always been his policy. For the greater good of Team India he sacrificed his own batting position from no.3 & 4 to no.6 & 7 as finisher even though he has had the best average and strike rate at no.3 position in ODI cricket for any Asian batsman those who scored atleast 950 runs at that position. Under immense pressure he kept team above himself and the benefit of team India meant the most to him. As a captain he gave opportunities to lots of young cricketers and backed them giving them the confidence they needed. He has always been a calculative risk taker and he always is ready with plan A,B,C,D… till Z for every situation and if plan A didn’t work just go with plan B but never settle for anything less thus remain committed to the task and the goal has been his idea always. Former Indian seamer R.P. Singh once narrated how MS Dhoni the captain used to go to the press conference himself if India lost the match to handle that situation in front of the media and calm things down yet when India used to win the match Dhoni used to send youngsters to face the media and learn from such experience. He never feared taking the tough decisions and it was his commitment as the captain that helped India become no.1 test side in 2009 and also win 3 ICC tournaments, 2nd most after RT Ponting. Even the greatest batsman who ever graced this planet SR Tendulkar went on to call Dhoni the greatest captain he ever played under.

MS Dhoni has been a master strategist throughout his career and there are numerous matches that India has won thanks to his master strategies under pressure, be it 2007 T20I World Cup where India was defending the total and in last over in front was the dangerous Misbah-ul Haq, the whole world was hoping the skipper, MS Dhoni would give the 20th over to experienced Harbhajan Singh, however MS Dhoni had other plans in his mind and those plans in the end was what became the difference between win and loss, India won the World Cup. In the final of 2011 Cricket World Cup MS Dhoni went straight to Gary Kirsten the then Indian head coach and told him without any hesitation, “If another wicket falls I’m going to bat next.” Gary told years later that it was at that moment he knew India would win the match and the tournament. In 2013 Champions Trophy defending mere 130 in 20 overs in front of the hosts England MS Dhoni utilized his spinners so well and made the field placing accordingly, he blocked the chances of single on all 4 corner of the wicket and starved English batsmen of any easy runs which resulted in England losing wickets at will in the middle overs and again when Bopara and Morgan threatened to take the game away from India, once again the master strategist brought back Lambu (Ishant Sharma) into the attack and asked him to bowl bouncers in front of both of them and placed fielders on the boundaries and near 30 yard circle (Same strategy also helped India win a test match in Lord’s after 28 years way back in 2014, guess who was the captain? MS Dhoni himself.) this strategy helped India remove inform Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara from the crease back to the pavilion which made our task that much easier. Today Dhoni stands in front of us as the only captain in the history of the game to have won all the ICC Trophy as captain. MS Dhoni has time after time again proven himself to be an elite level strategist and many consider him the greatest white ball captain in the history of the game.

MS Dhoni utilizes his exceptional interpersonal communication skills in order to get the job done, he always is very specific with his instructions and there is role clarity as to who will do what, when and at which stage. When on the field he always claps & applauds whenever any fielder does well on the boundary line and appreciates their efforts. Similarly he gives instructions in hindi language to his team mates during international matches when India plays against overseas teams so that the opponent batsman does not understand about their strategy. His voice whenever he gives instructions is always loud and clear and he leaves no any area uncovered. Dhoni also uses his eyes contact and body language to instruct his teammates whenever he feels doing so is necessary and his communication skills are as sound as it could get. Dhoni has always had a very clear approach when it comes to communication and when he relinquished his captaincy for team India back in January 2017 from White ball cricket he mentioned one thing specifically that he and the new captain Virat Kohli share a very strong understanding and that he can go and give 100 ideas to Virat the captain and Virat can say no to each and every one of them if that’s what he thought, meaning Dhoni shares a very strong bond with his team mates and the communication is as crystal clear as it gets.

As a player and captain MS Dhoni is very flexible and what is best for the team is always best for him. From the very beginning till the end of his illustrious career for team India he always said he can and will bat at any given position as per the team demand and that the benefit of the team means everything to him. In his career there came several moments where he had to adapt both his playing style and approach as per the need of the hour and he adapted brilliantly in all formats of the game, from an attacking batsman who used to brutally expose the bowling line up of opponents in his early days to the calm and composed finisher who took the game till the very end, who used to wait for each and every mistake of his opponents and capitalize on most of them, Dhoni adapted and he concurred, one of the several reasons he is regarded as one of the greatest wicket keeper batsman and captain in the history of the game and is respected by fans of not only cricket but all other sports as well.

Throughout his career MS Dhoni has been one of the most dependable performer. His game reaches elite level all together under pressure. It’s not that MS Dhoni does not have a nerve, he too has it just like all of us but what matters the most and makes the difference is how well he handles his nerves under pressure. As a cricketer Dhoni was the go to man for India and Indian Audience whenever the going got tough and the reason behind that is till MS Dhoni is batting out there, we all have our hopes very high regardless of the match situation. The required rate during run chase might be sky high or whatever may be Dhoni’s current form but the audience always says, “Till Dhoni is standing there, we believe!” More than 80% of the time Dhoni has remained not out in a run chase in all three formats of the game combined, India have come back victorious. He gives a sense of calmness and belief to both his team and the audience, his mere presence out there in the middle is enough for people to smile and cheer. So many players have on record said that they admire and respect MS Dhoni and that under pressure they depend on him and his instructions, the Indian spinners under Dhoni’s tenure used to thrive under his leadership and his strategies used to help them alot. Not only on cricket field but also as a man manager and senior Dhoni has proven time after time again why he is that much competent and dependable.