MS Dhoni's rise as a top cricketer has been a fascinating case study. It has defied the logical course in terms of captaincy, batting and even his route to the Indian team. Who better than Siddhartha Vaidaynathan(@sidvee on Twitter) to unpack the legend. 

Dhoni took over the reigns of the Indian team after the Chappell Ganguly era where the team was somewhat divided. His self assurance and leadership qualities paved the way for many an Indian success in the years to come. Vaidyanathan was able to do two exlcusive in-depth interviews with Dhoni during the later's tenure as captain and feels he was able to get a lot out of the Indian caprtain during this old exclusive chat - https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22894218/if-there-commitment-victory-me . 

Besides being very popular Dhoni has also been an immensely polarizing figure due to the treatment of some of the senior members of the team during his watch as captain. In typical Dhoni manner he held most of his cards very close to his chest and did not let many people in - which made him a very different subject for the media community to work on. Vaidyanathan addresses the impact of Dhoni the cricketer and how the culture of the team changed on and off the field. This conversation is an attempt at a deeper dive on Dhoni the cricketer.