Gautam Gambhir believes MS Dhoni would have ‘broken many records’ had he batted at No. 3

Despite playing predominantly at the number 6 position, Dhoni has scored 10773 runs in ODIs and averages more than 50.

MS Dhoni is regarded as one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the game. Despite playing predominantly at the number 6 position, Dhoni has scored 10773 runs in ODIs while averaging more than 50. The legend of Dhoni will always talk about his credentials as the captain of the Indian cricket team as he took them to victory in 2007 World T20, 2011 Cricket World Cup, and number one ranking in Test cricket.

Chennai-Super-Kings-CSK-skipper-MS-Dhoni-and-Kolkata-Knight-Riders-KKR-captain-Gautam-Gambhir-during-the-IPL-2015. (PTI-Photo)

However, former teammate Gautam Gambhir believes that Dhoni could have been a more prolific batsman had he continued to bat at number 3. Gambhir said that if captaincy wasn’t handed over to him, Dhoni would have batted in the top order and broken many records.

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“Probably world cricket has missed one thing... that is MS (Dhoni) captained India and did not bat at No. 3. Had MS batted at No. 3, probably world cricket would have seen a completely different player,” Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports ‘Cricket Connected’.

“Probably he would have got many more runs, broken many records. Forget about records, they are meant to be broken. He would have been the most exciting cricketer in the world had he not captained India and had he batted at No. 3.”

“MS Dhoni batting at No. 3 on flat wickets with the quality of bowling attack now in world cricket... look at Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and West Indies in the current situation, with the quality there is in international cricket, MS Dhoni would have broken most of the records.”

Dhoni made his international debut in 2004 and soon played two memorable innings against Sri Lanka and Pakistan while batting the no. 3 position. Dhoni has an average of 82 runs while batting at number 3 but he continued to play in the middle order for the majority of the career. Dhoni, however, left his mark on cricket as he is known as one of the greatest finishers in the game.