ROHIT SHARMA

Current Indian white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma made his India debut way back in 2007 but continued to languish in the middle order, trying to cement his place. He even missed out on the 2011 World Cup squad due to his form, despite being one of the prime reasons India won the 2007 World T20.

It was MS Dhoni, who then pushed Rohit Sharma to open with Shikhar Dhawan as the new opening partnership and in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, Rohit turned a page in his career and has never looked back since. He averages 58.11 with 7148 runs and has made 31 centuries as an opener with three double hundreds in ODIs at a strike rate of 92.27.

Gambhir credits Dhoni for Rohit's success; rates Rohit above Kohli for his impact

In T20Is, he has 2313 runs as an opener with a strike rate of 140.52 and has hit 4 centuries at an average of 33.04. This all happened because MS Dhoni asked him to open the innings and that helped him in earning his place back in Tests as well, wherein his first series as an opener, he made three centuries, including a double-ton.

“I believe the decision to open in ODIs changed my career and it was a decision taken by MS Dhoni. I became a better batsman after that,” Rohit Sharma was quoted saying in January 2017.