3 times Gautam Gambhir praised MS Dhoni
Gautam Gambhir's alleged rift with MS Dhoni stirs many debates between fans. But it is only limited to supporters as the two former teammates seemingly have mutual respect for each other, as is evident by Gambhir's praise of Dhoni over the years.
Recently, India captain Rohit Sharma became the sixth Indian batter and 15th overall to cross the 10,000-run landmark in ODIs. While praising the opener, Gambhir stressed that it was Dhoni's decision to push him up the order that paid dividends.
He said on Star Sports:
“Rohit Sharma is Rohit Sharma today because of MS Dhoni. MS backed him continuously in his initial struggling phase.”
Rohit Sharma’s career suffered a slow start. Batting in the middle order, he was the fourth slowest Indian to reach 2000 ODI runs. But such has been the turnaround that he became the second-fastest in the world to 10,000 ODI runs.
Dhoni played a huge role in this turnaround in Rohit’s career. In the 2013 Champions Trophy, the wicketkeeper-batter asked him to open with Shikhar Dhawan, and the rest is history.
In this article, we will look for instances when Gautam Gambhir praised MS Dhoni wholeheartedly.
3 times Gautam Gambhir praised MS Dhoni
#3 "I will be the first person to stand next to him in need"
Gautam Gambhir, who was also Dhoni's deputy across formats for a period, rubbished rumors of any sort of rift between him and Dhoni as "crap" and said on Jatin Sapru's show "Over & Out" that he has a lot of respect for the former India captain.
Gambhir also heaped praise on Dhoni for his contributions to Indian cricket and said he would be the first person to stand next to the CSK captain when needed.
"I have lots of mutual respect for MS Dhoni. If ever in need, I will be the first person standing next to him because of what he has done for Indian cricket and what he is as a human being," Gambhir told Jatin Sapru.
#2 "Broken all records if batted at 3"
Gautam Gambhir highlighted that Dhoni, despite batting in the middle order, had great numbers and was one of the greatest finishers in white-ball cricket.
If Dhoni had continued to bat at No. 3, where he averaged 82.9 and accumulated 993 runs in just 16 innings, he would have been an all-time great batter, as per Gambhir.
In conversation with Jatin Sapru, Gambhir said:
"Had he batted at No. 3, he would’ve broken all the records. We talk about some of the greats; he would’ve broken everything in white-ball cricket."
#1 "No captain would be able to win three ICC trophies"
Gautam Gambhir was all praise for Dhoni's leadership skills in 2021 after India's dismal performance in the ICC T20 World Cup under Virat Kohli, saying that it was very hard to win championships.
Talking to Star Sports, Gambhir said:
“Someone will come and probably score more double 100s than Rohit Sharma and more 100s than Virat Kohli, but I don’t think any Indian captain would be able to achieve three ICC trophies."