Pakistan need a leader like MS Dhoni: Yasir Arafat

Former cricketer Yasir Arafat feels that the current Pakistan cricket team needs a captain like MS Dhoni. The now-retired Pakistani all-rounder recently heaped praise on Dhoni's leadership qualities, saying that the Men in Green would benefit significantly if they had a leader like Dhoni.

One of the most successful captains in cricket history, Mahendra Singh Dhoni led India to the ICC T20 World Cup title in 2007. Yasir Arafat was part of the Pakistan squad that lost to India in that final.

In an interview with Sports Yaari, Arafat revealed how Dhoni had praised his bowling in the T20 World Cup. When the interviewer asked him to pick an Indian player in Pakistan's XI, Arafat took Dhoni's name and replied:

"MS Dhoni is not playing now, but if he had not retired, I would have taken him in the Pakistan XI as a captain. The current Pakistan team needs someone like Dhoni who knows the skill of man management. Our players are talented, but they need a leader who has qualities like MS Dhoni."

Yasir Arafat described how MS Dhoni would back his players and bring the best out of them. Although Pakistan's current team has the potential to make it big, all they need is a leader to inspire them.

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Yasir Arafat then spoke about MS Dhoni's finishing skills. The former Indian skipper helped India chase down many big scores with his exceptional finishing ability.

Arafat highlighted how an experienced bowler like Shoaib Akhtar could never plan for Dhoni:

"You would have heard Shoaib Akhtar saying that whenever he bowled against MS Dhoni, he never knew how he would beat him. He is very strong mentally and physically. There was Michael Bevan in '90s before Dhoni. His ODI batting average was more than 50. I don't think any current player in the world is even close to MS Dhoni when it comes to finishing."