Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor Gautam Gambhir hailed his former national team skipper and Chennai Super Kings stalwart Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the most successful India captain on the eve of their highly-anticipated meeting in IPL 2024 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday.

Dhoni and Gambhir are among the most successful leaders in IPL history and their meetings over the early editions produced gripping contests. While Dhoni has led CSK to five IPL titles, the KKR unit, under the leadership of Gambhir, went on to clinch the title twice in 2012 and 2014.

Now that Gambhir is back in KKR colours on the sidelines, and Dhoni, no longer the skipper of the Yellow Brigade, it will be interesting to see how they inspire their sides to win.

“I wanted to win. I am very clear in my mind. Friends, mutual respect, everything will remain. But when you are in the middle, I am captaining KKR and he is captaining CSK. If you ask him, he will probably give you the same answer. It’s about winning. Obviously, MS is the most successful captain India will ever have. I don’t think anyone can reach that level – winning 3 ICC trophies,” the 42-year-old Gambhir said.

Gambhir felt Dhoni’s tactical acumen made head-to-head contests between CSK and KKR enjoyable for fans from either side.

“Even if they needed 20 runs in an over, and MS was in the middle, he could finish off that game. At the same time, I knew I had the bowling attack to challenge anyone in the Super Kings. I knew that tactically had to be better than him on every front because he is not that aggressive on the field, but I knew he would not give up. Chennai is that kind of a team, against whom you know you are not winning until the last ball was bowled,” Gambhir said.

In their heydays, both Gambhir and Dhoni were instrumental in two of India’s three ICC title wins. While Gambhir architected India’s T20 World Cup final triumph against Pakistan in 2007 under Dhoni’s leadership. In the 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka, the duo shared a 109-run stand for the fourth wicket while leading India to their second global title. Dhoni then went on to lead India to the ICC Champions Trophy crown in 2014.