Everyone is talking about Chennai Super Kings’ four-match winning streak, and probably wondering when the law of averages will catch up with us. If we continue to perform the way we did against Bangalore Royal Challengers at the Chinnaswamy on Monday, winning is always on the cards, though the attempt to maintain a winning streak generates its own brand of pressure.

But the victory against Challengers was particularly noteworthy because we had to overcome unfavourable situations both while batting and bowling. It says much for the strength of this team that we were able to wrest a win when the Challengers were cruising along.

A large share of credit for the score that we posted obviously goes to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Michael Hussey. It was a joy to watch the two put on 76 in the last five overs, and that stand eventually made the difference. And I must mention Dhoni’s inspiring captaincy here.

There has been plenty of talk about how cool he is under pressure and what he has done to motivate the team, but personally speaking, what impresses me most is his ability to read the game and analyse a particular situation. Moreover, he’s extremely humble and approachable, especially considering the amount of attention that he has to cope with.

I watched quite a bit of him during the series against Australia. The way he led India to a series win in what was one of the toughest away tours in the world was extremely impressive. So I’m really not surprised at the way he has been leading the Chennai Super Kings. He looks a good leader now, but he is likely to be an exceptional captain for India in future.

We play the Delhi DareDevils on Friday, and as one of only four international players in the side now, I am looking forward to getting off the reserve bench at last, though I’ve been doling out the drinks pretty efficiently. We’ve lost Jacob Oram, Matthew Hayden, and Mike Hussey, but gained Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini, and we already have a potent weapon in Muthiah Muralidharan.

Delhi, of course, have an exceptional seam attack with Mohammed Asif, Glenn McGrath, and Fervez Mahroof. They can be hard to get away. Glenn needs special mention in this case because he remains a class performer, and despite getting on, doesn’t miss a single trick.

However, we will seek to apply the pressure as we did against the Challengers, with our three bowlers and MS Goni, who has been one of the finds of the tournament. In effect the competition starts afresh for us, because we have a relatively new look team.

But it has been a feature of this competition that the relatively unfancied teams have been performing beyond expectations. A case in point would be Rajasthan Royals, where Shane Warne has proved what strong leadership and exemplary performance can achieve. Dhoni has played a similar role for us, and I don’t think it is a coincidence that the teams doing well in this tournament are the ones with the strong leaders.