Michael Hussey compares the captaincy skills of MS Dhoni and Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting and MS Dhoni are the two most successful captains in the history of international cricket. Not a lot of players have had the luck of playing under these two. Australia batsman Micheal Hussey is one of them though. During an interview, the former Australian batsman talked about the similarities and differences between the two captains.

Talking about his Australian captain, Hussey revealed that he was very competitive in whatever he did. The middle-order batsman said that Ponting would want to win whatever he played.

“Ricky is just so driven and so competitive in everything that he does. He can be playing table tennis in the team room, or he can be playing a game of marbles and Ricky would want to win. You’ll do a fielding drill at training, and he wants to lead. He wants to set the highest standard,” Hussey said during an interview with ESPN Cricinfo’s Raunak Kapoor.

The Western Australian batsman spent most of his international career under the leadership of the Tasmanian batsman. He was with the Aussie team when they won the 2006 and 2009 Champions Trophy and the 2007 World Cup under Ponting’s leadership.

While comparing the two captains, the veteran of 79 Tests said that both skippers wanted to lead from the front. He pointed out to the teams when the two would practice on the worst nets to lead their team with examples.

Michael Hussey calls Dhoni a better tactician than Ponting

“If we had the worst nets in the world that we have to practice on, he will be the first one into the net and show that it’s okay. He really leads from the front, and he certainly backs his players 100%. That’s probably where the similarity is with MS,” Hussey added.

The left-handed batsman, who played under MS Dhoni at the Chennai Super Kings from 2008 to 2013 and once again in 2015, talked about the ways in which the Indian is better than Ponting. He revealed that he feels that ex-Indian captain was a better tactician. He also praised both to be very effective in their own ways.

“MS is a lot calmer. A lot more measured. And I would say he strategically reads the game slightly better than Ricky. Ricky was a good tactician as well. Fantastic, but the way MS makes some moves out there in the field, I’ll be sort of thinking “where’s he going with this?” Inevitably it might work. How did this come from? He just backs his gut feel. Two different captains but both very effective in their own ways” the 44-year-old said.

While talking about the 38-year-old, Hussey said that he has a great ability to the pressure of young players. He credited Dhoni is being successful in managing young Indian players, especially considering the amount of pressure each player goes through.

He said, “I think one of the greatest strengths about MS, particularly in a place like India, is his great ability to take the pressure off players, particularly young Indian players. In India, you know what it’s like. It’s a religion over there. Everyone wants it so much, so badly. He just says it’s just a game, just go out there and play. Enjoy. Some days you win, some days you lose. It’s not the be-all-end-all. That’s quite rare I think for a captain, particularly in India”, Hussey concluded.