Before he became known for his sharp cricket brain that played a huge role in India winning three major ICC titles in the space of six years, MS Dhoni made his name as a big-hitting top-order batter. As his career progressed, Dhoni shifted to middle order en route to becoming one of the finest finishers in limited-overs cricket.
Gautam Gambhir, who was in intrinsic part of Dhoni’s world beaters, recently lavished high praise on his former India captain and teammate, saying he was the first wicketkeeper from the team who was capable of changing games with the bat.
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And Gambhir added that Dhoni ‘sacrificed’ his batting position for the team’s good and if he hadn’t done so, would have finished with much more runs from his international career.
S Sreesanth says he doesn’t think that Dhoni ‘scarified’ his batting but instead worked out a way that get the maximum out of each player.
“Gautam Bhai said recently that Dhoni would have scored more runs had he batted at No.3. But for Dhoni it was always about more victories than more runs. He always had the ability to finish games when the team needed him and he won two World Cups as well,” Sreesanth told Sportskeeda.
“Credit should go to Dhoni, but he didn’t sacrifice his batting position. He worked a way to find out which players would do well for the team in which position and then slot them in those positions accordingly. His captaincy had the ability to bring the best out of his players. He has always thought about the team first,” he added.
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On Star Sports, Gambhir had said Dhoni’s numbers with the bat took a hit because he thought of team first.
“People always talk about MS Dhoni and his achievements as a captain, which is absolutely true. But I feel due to captaincy, he sacrificed the batter in him, and he could have achieved much more with his bat which he didn’t. And this happens when you are a captain because then you put the team ahead, and you forget about yourself. He started batting at No 6 or 7. If he had not been captain, he would have been India’s No 3, and I think he could have scored more than what he has scored and could have scored more hundreds also,” Gambhir said.
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