File image of MS Dhoni
Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Saturday made a massive claim wherein he opined that veteran Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, a legend of the game and India's ex-captain, MS Dhoni would have broken many more cricketing records had he not been the skipper of the Indian team and batted at No.3 in the lineup.
Gambhir, speaking to Star Sports' Cricket Connected, reckoned that Dhoni would have been the most exciting player in world cricket had not not been burdened by captaincy responsibility and batted at No.3, given the quality of bowling attack and flat pitches across the world.
"World cricket has missed one thing and that is MS did not bat at No.3 and MS captained the Indian side. Had MS not captained India and batted at No.3, world cricket would have seen a completely different player. Probably he would have scored many more runs and broken many more records," said Gambhir.
"Forget records, they are meant to be broken, he would have been the most exciting cricketer in the world right now. MS batting on flat wickets with the quality of bowling attack now in world cricket, look at Sri Lanka, look at Bangladesh, look at West Indies, given the current situation with the quality of international cricket there is, MS would have probably broken most of the records," he added.
In his 16-year-long career, Dhoni has scored 10,773 runs in the ODI format, with almost 70 per cent of the runs coming in while batting at No.4 and No.5. While he scored 3169 runs at No.4, Dhoni amassed 4164 runs at No.5. Dhoni batted only 16 times at No.3, scoring 993 runs with his last attempt being back in 2009. However, Dhoni has the highest batting average and strike rate at No.3 than at any other batting position - 82.75 and 99.69 respectively, with two centuries and six half-centuries.
In terms of captaincy, Dhoni recorded 7703 runs as a captain at an average of 53.55, compared to his tally of 4132 runs in matches he did not lead India with his average standing 46.22.
