ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 winning member Gautam Gambhir took a unique stance on MS Dhoni. We all witnessed how India’s 2011 ODI WC side displayed team performance and won the championship. Gautam Gambhir was one of the key member of the triumph.
The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina & Virat Kohli stood tall in the middle overs phase and didn’t panic even if there is an early setback in the match. We should not forget that the then head coach Gary Kirsten was the chief architect behind the glorious triumph.
MS Dhoni sacrificed his international runs for trophies- Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir was having an interaction with Star Sports and showered praise on the iconic skipper MS Dhoni. Gautam Gambhir strongly believed that MS Dhoni could have amassed a lot of runs in the ODI format if he had batted at the No.3 position.
“Because of captaincy, MS Dhoni couldn’t achieve what he could have achieved as a batter. A lot of times as captain you have to keep the team first. If MS was not captain, he could have batted at No 3. I am sure he could have broken several ODI records. He has won a lot of trophies, but individually he sacrificed his international runs for trophies,” said Gautam Gambhir.
“Earlier, they were keepers first and batters later, but MS was a batter first and then was a wicketkeeper. It was a blessing for Indian cricket that in MS Dhoni, we got a wicketkeeper-batter who can win you matches from No 7 because he had that power game,” he added.
Steep road ahead for India
Rohit Sharma’s unit though will have to play out of their skin if they want to win the 2023 ODI WC as this time all the teams are evenly matched. Rohit along with Virat will have to do the bulk of scoring. The resurgence of KL Rahul has made India a lethal unit.
According to sources with knowledge, it is believed that head coach Rahul Dravid won’t apply for another term. Rahul Dravid would be keen to sign off in a grand fashion after facing a lot of criticism for team India’s failure in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi final defeat against England.