Ganguly gave more ‘world beaters’ to Team India; MS Dhoni didn’t give enough quality players to Kohli: Gambhir

Gambhir pointed out that only Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah were among the talents groomed under Dhoni’s reign as the captain of the Indian team. (File image: Reuters)

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has said that Mahendra Singh Dhoni could not pass on a pool of talented cricketers who were ‘world beaters’ and could win global tournaments for the Indian team to his successor Virat Kohli. Gambhir said this while comparing MSD’s legacy to Sourav Ganguly, who he said left a well-groomed team for his successor.

Gambhir pointed out that only Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah were among the talents groomed under Dhoni’s reign as the captain of the Indian team.

Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo that when MS Dhoni’s tenure got over, he did not pass enough ‘quality players’ to his successor Virat Kohli. And apart from Virat himself and Rohit Sharma, or Jasprit Bumrah, there aren’t a lot many other “world-beaters” who can win tournaments for Team India.

On the other hand, the former Indian opener who had played crucial knocks in finals of both the ICC 50-over World Cup and T20 World Cup under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, pointed out a long list of players that included Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag who were groomed under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy and later went on to become ‘world-beaters.’

Earlier this week, Gambhir had shared his experience of sharing a room with MS Dhoni on Star Sports’ show ‘Cricket Connected.’ He had said that the long hairs that Dhoni had at that time dominated the conversation between him and MSD. He recalled how they used to discuss ideas for the management of Dhoni’s long hair. The Delhi-born opener recalled another anecdote when the duo had to sleep on the floor due to the small size of the room they were assigned.

Gambhir has been critical of MSD in the past as well. Earlier in April this year, Gambhir, in a reply to tweet by ESPNcricinfo, had written that the 2011 World Cup was won by ‘entire India, entire Indian team & all support staff.’