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NEW DELHI: The only captain to win three ICC trophies for India — World T20 (2007), the ODI World Cup (2011) and the Champions Trophy (2012) — MS Dhoni had a remarkable international career that spanned close to 15 years.
To go with that, 10,773 ODI runs and 1617 runs in T20Is as Dhoni was a force to reckon with in India’s lower middle order.
However, former India opener Gautam Gambhir feels that the legend could have achieved a lot more with the bat but sacrificed his personal runs for team’s cause and trophies.
After the initial phase of his career, Dhoni played at No.3 for some time but then he brought himself down the order to be the finisher for the team.
“Earlier, they were wicketkeeper-batters who were keepers first and then batters, but MS was batter first and then a keeper. It was a blessing for Indian cricket that in MS Dhoni, we got a wicketkeeper-batter who could win you matches from No.7, because he had that power game,” Gambhir said on Star Sports during the Asia Cup final on Sunday.
“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 added.
Gambhir was a key part of the Dhoni-led side that won the ICC World T20 in 2007 and the 50-over World Cup in 2011.
To go with that, 10,773 ODI runs and 1617 runs in T20Is as Dhoni was a force to reckon with in India’s lower middle order.
However, former India opener Gautam Gambhir feels that the legend could have achieved a lot more with the bat but sacrificed his personal runs for team’s cause and trophies.
After the initial phase of his career, Dhoni played at No.3 for some time but then he brought himself down the order to be the finisher for the team.
“Earlier, they were wicketkeeper-batters who were keepers first and then batters, but MS was batter first and then a keeper. It was a blessing for Indian cricket that in MS Dhoni, we got a wicketkeeper-batter who could win you matches from No.7, because he had that power game,” Gambhir said on Star Sports during the Asia Cup final on Sunday.
“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 added.
Gambhir was a key part of the Dhoni-led side that won the ICC World T20 in 2007 and the 50-over World Cup in 2011.
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