Dhoni has changed; he's more assertive: Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar says Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become more assertive, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India and selectors' faith in him will only spur him to do better.

"If the captain has the confidence of the board and the selectors, it gives him confidence to employ tactics on the field. It's a huge plus. Now that he is doing so well, it will give him even more confidence," the former India captain said.

Dhoni stroked a maiden counter-attacking double hundred as India scored a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Australia in the first Test in Chennai.

"He has changed a bit from the England series. He is more assertive. Towards the end of England series in Nagpur he was trying to be more assertive, showing displeasure at the lack of efforts by the players and we have seen that in Chennai as well," Gavaskar told NDTV.

The legendary opener also tried to reason what Dhoni meant when he said he never dreamt about representing India.

"He (Dhoni) came from a place where cricket was not the number one sport. That might have given him a thought that he would not play for India," Gavaskar reasoned.

The former India batting ace felt that being a bit detached from the game has also helped him remain a "secure person".

"He is a very secure person within himself. He is a very confident man. If tomorrow, he wasn't playing cricket, I don't think he would be regretting anything. He would say I had my time and I enjoyed it. If you have such kind of an attitude, you tend to put on less pressure," he said.

Gavaskar feels that the Australians have the potential to stage a comeback after their loss in the opening Test just like the English team did in the Test series two months back.

"They (Australians) can make a comeback. Just like England skipper Alastair Cook batted so well in the first Test in Ahmedabad; similarly Michael Clarke has scored well in both the innings here. Moises Henriques has also played very well. They have got two players who have scored runs. Others are also good."

Gavaskar is of the opinion that the Hyderabad track won't be a rank turner like the one in Chennai.

"I don't think the Hyderabad wicket will take as much turn as it did in Chennai. There will be some turn but not the amount of it along with the bounce that we saw in Chennai," he said.

He went on to heap praise on Henriques.

"The way Moises Henriques batted, therein lies the clue for the Australian batsmen. He played the ball very late and used soft hands. He stretched right forward to defend the ball. There was a method in the way he batted," he said.