Devon Conway reveals being blown away by CSK 'Thalaiva' MS Dhoni's aura during IPL 2023
Devon Conway played a key role in Chennai Super Kings' fifth IPL victory and has since evolved into one of MS Dhoni's most reliable aides.
FollowDevon Conway, a star New Zealand batsman, is awestruck by the aura that surrounds Indian talisman Mahendra Singh Dhoni and feels fortunate to have spent time with Chennai Super Kings captain. Conway played a key role in CSK's fifth IPL victory and has since evolved into one of Dhoni's most reliable aides.
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"I've been lucky to spend quite a lot of time with him (Dhoni). The respect is immense. Every time he walks into a room, there's an aura around him. You want to talk to him, understand what he has to say because of his status in cricket and what he has achieved," Conway told ESPN Cricinfo in an interview.
"Moeen, MS, (Ajinkya) Rahane and I spent a lot of time in the team room watching a lot of IPL games, talking about different teams and strategies, and in general, life beyond cricket. The relationship I have with MS is cool; he gives me a lot of banter and chirp, quirky one-liners. Now I've started to give it back to him (laughs)," Conway added.
The Black Caps southpaw claimed that the easygoing atmosphere in the CSK locker room aids in a player's performance.
"We were fortunate to play a lot of snooker late nights and early mornings. MS and I were in one team and would often play Moeen and his close friend Tanvir, practically his godson. And our games would start shortly after heading back to the hotel from a match to around 2-3am. We've shared a lot of laughs and good, constructive chats around those games and how to approach different situations and those sorts of things," Conway revealed.
CSK, led by head coach Stephen Fleming and captain MS Dhoni, keeps team meetings to 3–4 minutes at a time when teams are becoming more and more engrossed in analytics and theoretical material.
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"It's a great combination. Fleming's learnt to cut team meetings down to the very bare minimum. I don't think there's often a team meeting that goes longer than three-four minutes, which is great. Not that there's a lot to say. Fleming understands there's a lot of experience in the group, guys know what they need to do to win. That gives us players a sense of trust that he'll allow us to go out and express ourselves and the results will take care of itself," Conway said.
Dhoni is also constantly around to add to the cool factor. "The combination of MS Dhoni's relaxedness around meetings and Fleming allowing guys to go about their business to make sure they know what they need and what to do to win games is very beneficial as a group," he added.
