As captain you don't presume all players have common sense: Dhoni

Giving an endoscopic peek into the little details of his minimalist approach to leadership, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said there is "nothing called common sense" in cricket and spoke about how he would look to break the ice with his team-mates, as captain.

On his 37th birthday, Dhoni talked about his learnings and philosophies as a leader of the national team.

For India's most successful captain, the biggest challenge during his captaincy was instilling "common sense" in some players without hurting their egos.

"The biggest learning during my tenure as a captain was, that a lot of time, I used to think that this is common sense. But no, there is nothing called common sense. You think, 'Oh, I don't need to say' or like 'Yeh batane ke cheez nehi hai', but in a team environment, you need to say," Dhoni told Star Sports in an interview telecast on his 37th birthday.

He spoke about how different players reacted differently in match situations and when the leader needs to step in.

"There will be a few who are intelligent and they will be like 'Areh yeh kya bol raha hai, yeh zaroorat nahi hai' (Why is he telling this, we know this). But it's not for them. They can figure things out.

"It is for the person who does not understand. But, at the same time, it is very bad to address it to one person, because then he will know that 'accha yeh toh mujhe hi bol raha hai' (Okay he has singled me out)."
"... For me to understand the individual I need to spend time with him. Unless you know the individual it's very difficult to advise that individual as to what he needs to do. And also the fact that you get to get inside his mind because everybody is different."
"I personally felt that in a team environment, the biggest problem was answering questions like 'Dhoni, what is the reason for which I'm not playing the matches."
"They will then add on 'I am asking you a question and I don't want an answer'.''
"Just before the finals, at the press conference, this guy asked me, Harbhajan Singh was there and he didn't bowl a single over. He is such an experienced player.'' And I had to give an answer."
"I had like seven bowlers. Raina didn't bowl a single over in this IPL. So, at times, when you don't need that particular bowler, why to make him bowl?"