Mumbai: The cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir has said that the credit for MS Dhoni’s success as the Test captain should solely go to former India pacer Zaheer Khan.
Zaheer is the second-highest wicket-taker (311 wickets) for India in the longest format after legendary Kapil Dev when it comes to pacers.
Gambhir lauded Zaheer as India’s “best world-class bowler” and acknowledged Sourav Ganguly’s role in bringing the former left-arm quick through the ranks, without which Dhoni wouldn’t have tasted the success he did in Tests.
“The reason Dhoni became such a successful captain in test cricket is because of Zaheer Khan. He was a big blessing that Dhoni got, for which credit goes to Ganguly. According to me Zaheer has been India’s best world class bowler,” Gambhir said on Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’.
Zaheer played 33 Tests under Dhoni and picked up 123 wickets as India reached the top of the ICC Test rankings for the first time in 2009.
Gambhir also called MS Dhoni a captain who was “lucky” as he had the privilege of having some of the best players in the team, ones who were crucial in India’s triumphant 2011 World Cup campaign.
“Dhoni has been a very lucky captain because he got an amazing team in every format. Captaining 2011 World Cup team was very easy for Dhoni because we had players like Sachin, Sehwag, myself, Yuvraj, Yusuf, Virat, so he had got the best teams, while Ganguly had to work very hard for it, and as a result Dhoni won so many trophies,” Gambhir concluded. (UNI)