MS Dhoni dealt with expectation, scrutiny, pressure better than anyone else, says Michael Clarke

“I cannot imagine there would be many jobs in international sport tougher than being the captain of India’s cricket team. I doubt many have dealt with the expectation, scrutiny, pressure and extreme adoration better than MS Dhoni,” Clarke said.

“How Dhoni has managed to hold down the captaincy while playing all three forms of the game and wicket-keeping is beyond me. He’s done a wonderful job and I think the hole he has left in the Test team will be hard to fill. I wish him all the best for all that lies ahead,” he wrote in his column for ‘Daily Telegraph’.

The star batsman, who led the Australian team to victory in the first Test in Adelaide before pulling out of the series, said Dhoni’s job was made all the more tough by the constant scrutiny from the fans of cricket-mad India.

“From a touring captain’s perspective, it’s busy enough. There are always thousands of fans gathered outside your
hotel, many others lined up along the team bus’ routes and a media contingent unlike anything else in world cricket,” said the 33-year-old right-handed batsman.

“India’s population is almost 1.3 billion. When you’re playing over there, it feels like every single one of them is passionately following the cricket. But we get to fly in, fly out. The Indian players have to live it every hour of every
day. Popping out to the coffee shop isn’t an option for them. Most of their time is spent at home, a hotel, an airport or a cricket ground,” he said.

Clarke said he’s looking forward to meeting Dhoni in Sydney during the fourth and final Test of the series.

“I’ve had quite a few chats with MS over the years, and nearly all of them have been about motorbikes. I love them,
but not quite with the same devotion he does. I’m catching up with him at a Spartan BBQ on Sunday and I’ll be riding my Harley there so he can take it for a spin,” he said.

Hughes family to be present at SCG

Clarke on Saturday revealed that Phil Hughes’ family will be present for the final Test at this venue, where the cricketer was hit by a bouncer and eventually succumbed to his injuries.

“Phillip Hughes’ family will be at the game and I will be spending my time with them when I’m not in the commentary box,” Clarke, who would be doing commentary for Channel Nine, said.

“They have shown incredible strength over the last couple of months and it will be great to see them back out at the
ground where they watched their son and brother score so many runs for NSW, South Australia and Australia,” he added.

Hughes died in hospital, two days after he was struck on the neck by a bouncer while playing in a Sheffield Shield
match at the Sydney Cricket Ground here in November last year.

Stating that SCG was a special ground for Hughes, Clarke recollected: “He played his first ever Test in Australia there against Pakistan in 2010 and scored a cracking 87 in his last Test at the ground against Sri Lanka in 2013, which included a 130-run second wicket stand with Davey Warner.

“It’s brilliant that the SCG will honour his memory with a plaque outside the home team dressing room, sixty three bats affixed to the Members Stand and an exhibition in the museum. I’m sure he’d be chuffed to bits,” Clarke said.