Gautam Gambhir has credited MS Dhoni for the success of Rohit Sharma, saying that the former India captain promoted Rohit up the order and the decision changed his life. This came after the Mumbai batter became the sixth Indian to cross the 10,000-run mark in ODIs.
Rohit Sharma achieved the feat during the recent Asia Cup 2023 match between India and Sri Lanka in Colombo. Batting first, India posted 213 runs with Rohit top-scoring with 53 runs. Ishan Kishan (33), KL Rahul (39), and Akshar Patel (26) were the other main scorers, with Dunith Wellalage (5/40) and Charith Asalanka (4/18) doing the damage.
In reply, Indian bowlers dominated the Sri Lankan batters with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj blowing away the top order. Only Dhananjaya de Silva (41) and Dunith Wellalage (42*) showed some resistance, but Sri Lanka was bowled out for 172 runs, handing India a win by 41 runs.
Speaking in the post-match analysis, Gautam Gambhir praised Rohit Sharma for achieving 10,000 runs in ODI cricket but credited MS Dhoni’s decision to promote the batter to the opening position for the success.
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"Scoring 10,000 runs was not easy for him. Saw many ups and downs. Having seen that phase, Rohit, as a captain, will back youngsters who go through a difficult period. Rohit Sharma is Rohit Sharma today because of MS Dhoni.
MS backed him continuously in his initial struggling phase. If he wants to leave a legacy behind, not in terms of runs but as a captain, a lot will depend on how he backs the young players. It will be interesting to see how he grooms the upcoming players," Gambhir said on Star Sports.
Gambhir also recalled his first impression of Rohit and said that he knew the Mumbaikar would do wonders for years to come.
"Rohit was playing against my team in a domestic match and my team score was 350 Rohit came at no.5 and scored 130 runs and made his team win the match from difficult conditions. I asked Wasim Jaffer who is this guy, and from that day I knew that this guy was special," he recalled.
Rohit is the sixth Indian batter after Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and MS Dhoni to score 10,000 or more runs in ODI cricket.
