Suresh Raina was a crucial member of Team India during the MS Dhoni era and has been a regular in the Chennai Super Kings line-up ever since the debut of the team.
"I would say he is the next MS Dhoni for the Indian cricket team," Suresh Raina when talking on The Super Over Podcast.
The 33-year old played under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma in the 2018 Nidahas Trophy reveled that the Mumbai Indians captain was someone who backs the youngsters and listens to each and everyone in the dressing room.
"I have seen him, he is calm, he likes to listen and give confidence to the players and on top of that, he likes to lead from the front. When the captain leads from the front and at the same time, he gives respect to the dressing room atmosphere, you know you have it all to win.
"He thinks everyone in the team is a captain. I have seen him. I have played under him when we won the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. I have seen how he gives confidence to young players like Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal of course."
"Around him, players enjoy the intensity, they enjoy his aura. I think when you enjoy the aura of a player, you like to be positive and I think that is what he is good at,".
"He is one of the top-most, after Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was brilliant. He has won more IPL trophies than MSD, but I would say they both are very similar to eachother. Both of them, as a captain, like to listen. When your captain is listening, you can solve a lot of problems, you can solve the mental problems of the players. So in my book, they both are wonderful."Suresh Raina said.
The left-hander also added that both MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma posses the same abilities and add a really good vibe as captain and believes them to be wonderful captains in his book.
It is to be noted that Rohit Sharma is the most successful captain in the Indian Premier league overtaking MS Dhoni. The right-hander lead his team to their 4th title in 2019 surpassing Dhoni's record of three titles.
Suresh Raina has represented Team India in 226 ODIs and 18 Test matches scoring 5615 and 768 runs respectively. He has a spectacular strike-rate of 93.51 and a high score of 116 in ODIs.
Cover Credits: IPLT20