Had MS Dhoni batted at No.3 instead of captaining India, he would've been completely different player: Gautam Gambhir

The world saw glimpses of a fiery batsman when MS Dhoni was pushed to No.3 in Team India’s batting order. The aggressive element in Dhoni got unfurled in that particular spot as two of his memorable and ruthless hundreds came at the No. 3 position against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 2005.

While stating his arrival on the international stage, Dhoni made his mark as an aggressive No.3 batsman. However, Dhoni’s stint at the position was short-lived as he played only 16 ODIs at the top-order spot, scoring 993 runs at an average of over 82 and a strike rate of close to 100.

The major chunk of his 10773 ODI runs came while batting down at No.5 or No.6 position. That’s how the former Indian skipper eventually donned the role of a ‘finisher’.

Many fans still miss Dhoni’s fearless and attacking approach while batting at No.3 position. Former India opener and Dhoni ex-teammate Gautam Gambhir, while opining on Dhoni’s No.3 spot, also said that the Ranchi man would have been a ‘completely different player’ as a top-order batsman.

Gambhir said MS Dhoni would have the ‘most exciting cricketer’ had he continued to bat at No. 3 instead of going on to become the skipper of the team. Dhoni would’ve shattered most of the records if he had donned the No.3 role in his career, according to Gambhir.

“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’

Dhoni would have been the most exciting cricketer: Gautam Gambhir

“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 no international cricket, MS Dhoni would have broken most of the records,” he added.

Dhoni has been away from the sport for almost a year now and his absence has led to a rise in his retirement rumours. However, the veteran himself has not announced anything over his international future. At present, die-hard Dhoni fans are still optimistic about his return to the national side, especially in the T20 World Cup in Australia.