At the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, India’s captain Rohit Sharma was forced to open the batting. Sharma, too, has said that ex-Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was instrumental in resurrecting his career. Since then, the Indian batting lineup has relied heavily on Sharma at the top of the order.
Sharma debuted in 2007, and it took him another six years of hard work to become a regular part of the Indian squad. Sharma began in a pair of one-day internationals (ODIs) against England in January, giving him valuable game time before the Champions Trophy in June. Before then, he opened in a few games but mostly filled in the gaps. Sharma and fellow Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan opened the batting and dominated the Champions Trophy.
So far in One-Day Internationals, Sharma has scored three centuries. He is now the Indian team captain in all three forms. Dhoni’s brilliant move was undeniably fruitful for Indian cricket.
Back when MS Dhoni captained India, he made the decision to make Sharma an opening batsman. Sharma previously shared the reasoning behind this choice with NCA students in a conversation. He added Sharma demonstrated his mettle by opening the batting in trying English circumstances.
What did MS Dhoni say about Rohit Sharma opening the batting?
Dhoni has argued that risky moves were sometimes necessary to triumph in a major competition. He let it go that everyone should keep an eye on Sharma’s abilities. Dhoni was anxious that Sharma be included in the Playing XI. He e was even willing to switch batting positions to make it happen.
“We have to see what others are not seeing. Rohit Sharma is one of the best examples. He accepted the challenge of becoming an opener. In limited-overs, he is one of the best openers who is playing right now. You have to at times think out of the box. We were like the amount of talent this guy has, I have to make him play. For that, if I have to make him an opener, I will do it,” Dhoni had said.
The Indian team won every game they played in. Every game they played in, save the final, they won. The final was reduced to 20 overs a side owing to rain. India won thanks in large part to the performance of pacer Ishant Sharma.
Sharma scored the fourth-most runs in the competition. He established himself as the team’s starting batsman after scoring 177 runs at a 75.96 average with the aid of two half-centuries.
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