Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has lauded MS Dhoni, characterizing him as a selfless leader. Gambhir believes that Dhoni was willing to forgo personal run-scoring achievements in order to concentrate on guiding India to significant ICC trophies.
Gambhir, who was critical of Dhoni in the past, now applauds him as a selfless captain, recognizing Dhoni’s focus on leading India to ICC trophies over personal runs.
In a recent Star Sports video, the former cricketer commended the Indian legend for prioritizing the team over personal achievements.
Watch here:
Gautam Gambhir praises MS Dhoni. 🫣 (On Star)#AsiaCupFinal https://t.co/tjD4ur2QjN
— Vipin Tiwari (@vipintiwari952) September 17, 2023
“Because of captaincy, he couldn’t achieve what he could have achieved as a batter. A lot of times as captain you have to keep 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,” Gambhir opined.
The 41-year-old further characterized Dhoni as India’s first wicketkeeper capable of influencing the game through his batting. Expanding on his viewpoint, Gambhir mentioned:
“Earlier, they were keepers first and batters later, but MS was 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.”
Dhoni, one of India’s highly accomplished ODI batsmen, accumulated 10,773 runs in 350 matches with an average of 50.57, featuring 10 centuries and 73 half-centuries.
“Rohit Sharma is Rohit Sharma today because of MS Dhoni” – Gautam Gambhir
In another conversation on Star Sports, Gambhir expressed that Dhoni has significantly contributed to the success of the current Indian captain, Rohit Sharma.
Speaking after Rohit became the second-fastest player to reach 10,000 runs in ODIs, the former opener remarked:
“Scoring 10,000 runs was not easy for him. Saw many ups and downs. Having seen that phase, Rohit, as a captain, will back youngsters who go through a difficult period. Rohit Sharma is Rohit Sharma today because of MS Dhoni.”
“MS backed him continuously in his initial struggling phase. If he wants to leave a legacy behind, not in terms of runs but as a captain, a lot will depend on how he backs the young players. It will be interesting to see how he grooms the upcoming players,” the 41-year-old added.
Rohit Sharma captained Team India to a resounding 10-wicket victory in the Asia Cup 2023 final against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Sunday.
Get the latest cricket news here, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.