Dhoni was a lucky captain, won many trophies because he had best team, claims Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir has branded Dhoni a lucky captain
|Gautam Gambhir, who played under MS Dhoni’s captaincy in both 2007 WT20 and 2011 World Cup, has claimed that the veteran wicket-keeper was a ‘lucky’ captain because he had the best teams at his disposal. Gambhir noted that unlike Ganguly, Dhoni didn’t need to work hard to win trophies.
With a 50-over World Cup, a World T20 and a Champions Trophy to his name, MS Dhoni stands tall as one of the most successful captains in the history of the game. The wicket-keeper, after taking over as captain in 2007, eclipsed the achievements of all his predecessors and set the benchmark for greatness through his results, something that his successor Virat Kohli has struggled, big time, to replicate.
But according to Gautam Gambhir, who played a vast majority of his career under Dhoni’s captaincy, the 39-year-old was a ‘lucky captain’, for the simple fact that he always had the best teams at his disposal. Gambhir said that Dhoni managed to win a lot of trophies because, unlike Ganguly, he did not have to work very hard when it came to building or assembling the team.
“Dhoni has been a very lucky captain because he got an amazing team in every format,” Gambhir said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports, reported Hindustan Times.
“Captaining 2011 World Cup team was very easy for Dhoni because we had players like Sachin, Sehwag, myself, Yuvraj, Yusuf, Virat, so he had got the best teams, while Ganguly had to work very hard for it, and as a result Dhoni won so many trophies.”
While in Dhoni’s captaincy, India did not enjoy the same amount of success in Test cricket as they did in ODIs and T20Is, the team did, however, hold the number one ranking, win an away series in New Zealand and whitewash Australia in the veteran wicket-keeper’s tenure as the Test skipper.
And, according to Gambhir, a primary reason for Dhoni’s success as skipper in the longest format was the presence of Zaheer Khan, who had some of his best years under the leadership of Dhoni. Gambhir asserted that Zaheer, who picked a total of 311 Test wickets, was India’s ‘best world class bowler’.
“The reason Dhoni became such a successful captain in Test cricket is because of Zaheer Khan. He was a big blessing that Dhoni got, for which credit goes to Ganguly. According to me, Zaheer has been India’s best world class bowler,” said the 38-year-old.
