MS Dhoni couldn’t achieve what he could have as a batter because of captaincy: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir feels that former India captain MS Dhoni, who guided Men in Blue to a record three ICC trophies, didn’t live up to his potential as a batter due to his leadership role.

Under Dhoni’s guidance, India won the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He is the only captain in the world to win all three trophies. And while he was considered the best finisher of his era, Dhoni could have scored more runs in his career had he batted up in the order.

While discussing Dhoni’s batting, Gambhir said that the Ranchi cricketer could have broken a lot of ODI records had he batted at No 3 for India and not in the lower order.

“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 said on Star Sports.

In 350 ODIs, Dhoni scored 10773 runs at an average of 50.57, with 10 hundreds and 73 fifties.

The 41-year-old former India opener also added that Dhoni was the first wicketkeeper-batter for India who could win matches from No 7 spot.

“Earlier, they were keepers first and batters later, but MS was batter first and then was a wicketkeeper. It was a blessing for Indian cricket that in MS Dhoni, we got a wicketkeeper-batter who can win you matches from No 7, because he had that power game,” Gambhir added.