Matthew Hayden feels MS Dhoni's aura and stature are so big that he can captain the Australian cricket team if he feels like it. The former Australia opener, who has played against and with Dhoni, labelled MSD as the most selfless cricketer, adding that he takes pride in not being bigger than the game or anyone else for that matter. Hayden, who played the first three seasons under Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings from 2008 to 2010 and was part of CSK's first-ever IPL win, believes MSD's X-factor is that he tries to stay away from the limelight and puts teams before individuals.

After all, there is a reason why India are yet to win an ICC title since the 2013 Champions Trophy, which completed a hat-trick of major ICC trophies, having already led India to the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 World Cup. No disrespect meant to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who have done some incredible things as captains themselves, but Hayden explains it perfectly as to why Dhoni is and always will remain one of the most standout captains in world cricket.

"Dhoni is exactly what I was saying before. He can easily sit in an Australian dressing room and easily captain it because he believes that he is not bigger than anyone else. He'll collect bags, he'll throw cricket balls. He's just a very humble individual. And he works hard at the team and not on promoting MS Dhoni," Hayden said in a conversation with Sports Vikatan.

You'll never hear him telling people how great he is or what he's achieved. That is MS Dhoni's X-factor. You look at Australia and go '25 million people. How did they win the World Cup against us?' MS Dhoni... he just finds a way to galvanise people together and does it in a way that is nothing about ego, not about self-promotion."

Hayden explains the legend of Dhoni

Dhoni retired from international cricket in August 2020, but despite playing just one tournament a year, he managed to win two more IPL titles in 2021 and 2023, taking CSK's trophy count to five. After failing to qualify for the IPL 2024 Playoffs, no one knows what the future holds for the incomparable Dhoni, but if indeed is the end, irrespective of what happens to CSK in the coming years, MS will always be their quintessential leader.

"Coming from a small village and finding a way to the hearts of India and hearts of Chennai in particular. Thala will remain the iconic leader of this franchise forever. But to hear him saying how great he is... you don't even hear from MS Dhoni. And that's his charm. Team before anyone and everyone loves that," mentioned Hayden.

Everyone around CSK is currently mum about Dhoni's future. The clearest answer we've gotten is from the CEO of the franchise, Kasi Viswanathan, who once and for all cleared all speculations around Dhoni's future when he said 'he doesn't know', although he added that everyone in the CSK set-up is hopeful that Dhoni will be back for one final swansong next year.

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