Gautam Gambhir credits Rohit Sharma's success to former India captain MS Dhoni

Gautam Gambhir has credited MS Dhoni on Rohit Sharma's success.

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has credited MS Dhoni for the success behind current India captain Rohit Sharma’s success after the men in blue qualified for the finals of Asia Cup 2023 by defeating Sri Lanka on September 13, 2023, in Colombo.

India batted first after winning the toss, and Rohit Sharma gave the team a good start with a knock of 53 runs and added 80 for the first wicket with Shubman Gill (19). In the end, India posted 213 runs, with Ishan Kishan (33), KL Rahul (39), and Akshar Patel (26) being the other major scorers.

Dunith Wellalage was the best performer for Sri Lanka as he picked his maiden fifer in ODI cricket and was well supported by Charith Asalanka, who took 4/18.

However, Indian opening bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah blew away the top-order with the new ball. Though Dhananjaya de Silva (41) and Dunith Wellalage (42) put up some resistance in the middle, Kuldeep Yadav’s four-wicket haul wrapped Sri Lanka up for 172 runs and handed India a 41-runs win.

Rohit Sharma is Rohit Sharma today because of MS Dhoni: Gautam Gambhir

Rohit Sharma not only had a good day in the field as the captain and with the bat, he also completed 10,000 runs in ODIs during his half-century knock. From playing as a middle-order batter in his early days to becoming the fastest opener to reach the landmark of 8,000 ODI runs, Rohit has come a long way since making his debut in 2007.

He was asked to open by then-India captain MS Dhoni in 2013, and it was a complete turnaround for Rohit Sharma, whose career took off.

Former India batter Gautam Gambhir pointed out the importance of Dhoni in Rohit's career as he looked back at the important decision the former India skipper made by promoting the hitman up the order.

"Scoring 10,000 runs was not easy for him. Saw many ups and downs. Having seen that phase, Rohit, as a captain, will back youngsters who go through a difficult period. Rohit Sharma is Rohit Sharma today because of MS Dhoni.

MS backed him continuously in his initial struggling phase. If he wants to leave a legacy behind, not in terms of runs but as a captain, a lot will depend on how he backs the young players. It will be interesting to see how he grooms the upcoming players,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.

He further shared his first impression of Rohit Sharma and said that he knew the batsman would do wonders in the years to come.

"Rohit was playing against my team in a domestic match, and my team score was 350. Rohit came at no. 5 and scored 130 runs, helping his team win the match in difficult conditions. I asked Wasim Jaffer who this guy was, and from that day on, I knew that this guy was special," he recalled.

Rohit is the sixth Indian batter after Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Dhoni to score 10,000 or more runs in ODI cricket.