Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has made a stunning revelation after the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023. Gambhir has said that his favourite batting partner in white-ball cricket was not opener Virender Sehwag but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
“My favourite cricketing partner was MS Dhoni. People think that my favourite opening partner was Virender Sehwag but I actually loved playing more with him, especially in white ball cricket,” Gambhir told Sportskeeda.
In the run chase against Sri Lanka in the World Cup 2011 final, Gambhir and Dhoni shared a 109-run partnership for the fourth wicket at Wankhede Stadium. The partnership helped India dominate in the middle overs and win the match by six wickets even though the opener returned to the dressing room in the 42nd over after a 97-run knock.
While Gambhir has never minced words in saying that it was not the captain Dhoni but the whole team which contributed to winning the World Cup in India after 28 years, he has lauded the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain as well.
A few years ago, Gambhir had said that Dhoni would have broken several records in white-ball cricket had he continued to bat at no.3 and not pushed himself down the order.
“Probably world cricket has missed one thing… that is MS (Dhoni) captained India and did not bat at No. 3. Had MS batted at No. 3, probably world cricket would have seen a completely different player,” Gambhir had told Star Sports.
He also mentioned that Dhoni would have benefitted from the flat wickets of the modern days and tormented bowling attacks.
“Probably he would have got many more runs, broken many records. Forget about records, they are meant to be broken. He would have been the most exciting cricketer in the world had he not captained India and had he batted at No. 3.
MS Dhoni batting at No. 3 on flat wickets with the quality of bowling attack now in world cricket… look at Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies in the current situation, with the quality there is no international cricket, MS Dhoni would have broken most of the records,” he added.
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