This is an archive article published on September 23, 2023

‘He didn’t sacrifice his batting position’: Sreesanth on MS Dhoni batting lower down the order in ODIs

MSD batted 129 innings at number six for India scoring 4164 runs at an average of 47.32

MS Dhoni's winning six against Sri Lanka in the World Cup final. (ICC)

4 min readSep 23, 2023 11:23 AM IST First published on: Sep 23, 2023 at 11:19 AM IST

2007 and 2011 World Cup-winning player S. Sreesanth heaped praises on MS Dhoni who captained in both tournaments but did not agree with the view of Gautam Gambhir on Dhoni giving up his batting position by coming down the order. “He didn’t sacrifice his batting position,” the fast bowler said.

“Gautam Bhai said recently that Dhoni would have scored more runs had he batted at No.3. But for Dhoni, it was always about more victories than more runs. He always had the ability to finish games when the team needed him and he won two World Cups as well,” Sreesanth said in an interview with Sportskeeda.

“Credit should go to Dhoni, but he didn’t sacrifice his batting position. He worked a way to find out which players would do well for the team in which position and then slot them in those positions accordingly. His captaincy had the ability to bring the best out of his players. He has always thought about the team first,” the former India fast bowler added.

MSD batted 129 innings at number six for India scoring 4164 runs at an average of 47.32. During his playing days for India, he had built up a reputation of being one of the most lethal finishers in the world game. His six from the 2011 World Cup final in Wankhede. It was one of his most memorable finishes and one of those rare occasions where he pushed himself to number five in a pressure situation when the game was in balance and delivered a magnificent 91.

MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh got India over the finishing line in the final. (Source: Express photo by Kevin D’Souza)

Earlier Gambhir speaking on Star Sports, “MS (Dhoni) was the first wicketkeeper of India who could change the game with his batting. Earlier, they were keepers first and batters later, but MS was a batter first and then was a wicketkeeper. It was a blessing for Indian cricket that in MS Dhoni, we got a wicketkeeper-batter who can win you matches from No 7 because he had that power game. If MS would have batted at No 3, I am sure he could have broken several ODI records.”

“People always talk about MS Dhoni and his achievements as a captain, which is absolutely true. But I feel due to captaincy, he sacrificed the batter in him, and he could have achieved much more with his bat which he didn’t. And this happens when you are a captain because then you put the team ahead, and you forget about yourself. He started batting at No 6 or 7. If he had not been captain, he would have been India’s No. 3, and I think he could have scored more than what he has scored and could have scored more hundreds also,” he added.

The wicket-keeper batter has played 30 innings batting at number four and scored 1358 runs at an average of 56.58. Dhoni was always a quick runner between the wickets and had the ability to rotate strike rate in the middle overs against spinners which is an essential part of being a middle-order player.

However, despite all that frustration among fans and players Dhoni had batted down the order and could have promoted himself up the order he still managed to become one of the most successful batters in the history of the format as he finished off with 10773 career runs at an average of 50.58.