MS Dhoni’s Decision To Make Me Open In ODI’s Changed My Career: Rohit Sharma
Jan 11, 2017 at 5:01 PM
One of India’s most successful captain; one of the country’s most instinctive skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a history of his own.
Largely during his captaincy tenure in limited over cricket, MS made few landmark decisions, out of which asking Rohit Sharma to open the innings in limited overs cricket was the most debatable one, and surely the applauded one later on.
Straight from the horse’s mouth, Rohit Sharma admits that Dhoni’s choice to pick him as an opener ahead of the Champions Trophy in 2013, did a lot of good to his own career, and also to India on a bigger scale. The decision is believed to have prolonged Rohit’s career, after the Mumbaikar was on the brink of getting dropped, following a longer stretch of poor performance in both ODI’s and T20Is.
Rohit, who first opened in ODI’s during the England series in 2013, said the decision helped him understand the game better and that too how to play according to the situation.
“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. In fact it helped me understand my game better, react better according to situations.”
Recalling how the captain cool approached him with this idea, Rohit said it all happened so quickly and in a very MS Dhoni manner. Rohit said Dhoni reminded him of how strong he was in playing both pull and cut shots, and that he will score more freely up the order.
Looking at his numbers as an opener in ODI’s, Rohit Sharma has amassed 3164 in 69 matches played so far at an average of above 51. His highest score of 264 against Sri Lanka too came while batting at the top.
“He (Dhoni) just came up to me and said ‘I want you to open the innings as I am confident that you will do well. Since you can play both cut and pull shot well, you have the qualities to succeed as an opener.”
Carrying his success story as an opener in the Champions Trophy 2013, which India won, Rohit said his it was the dawn of his impressive run-of-form and credits MS Dhoni for the same. He added it was Dhoni who instilled calmness into him, and that he feels blessed to play under him over the years.
“With no disrespect to other great Indian captains, I was blessed to play under MS all these years. His calmness in pressure situations helped us. He always led from the front. There won’t be one like him.”
Rohit Sharma has been out of the game as he recovers from a thigh injury and is expected to take the field anytime soon.