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Rohit Sharma: The decision to open in ODIs changed my career and it was a decision taken by MS Dhoni

TNAmarkFromIndia

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Back in 2013, Rohit Sharma was questioning his every move in international cricket, he was in the middle order, had played only a handful of ‘attractive’ innings and his career was meandering along. Yes, there was talent and potential, but the return, despite the long rope given to him, was not substantial.

And then, MS Dhoni had enough. He bumped Rohit to the top of the order and asked him to face the new ball in One Day Internationals, a brush of genius they say, as Rohit has not looked back ever since. From churning out very average numbers in ODIs, he has become perhaps the best opener in this format. A match made in heaven, and the right-hander has been a dominant force in India’s amazing run in ODIs over the years.

“I believe the decision to open in ODIs changed my career and it was a decision taken by MS Dhoni. I became a better batsman after that. In fact it helped me understand my game better, react better according to situations,” Rohit confessed in 2017.

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His average has seen a growth of 53.21% since his first 50 matches to his current position in ODI cricket. Such has been his dominance that in the last 49 ODIs he has scored a fifty-plus score after every 2 innings and an ODI ton after every 4 innings. As an opener, he has an average of 58.32 which is the best by an opener with a minimum of 5000 ODI runs.

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He has a set template to his innings - watchful against the new ball, and then slowly expanding before he unleashes his strokes towards the end of the innings. His conversion rate as an opener is 42.55 % which is second only to former South African opener Herschelle Gibbs.

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Comfortably the best ODI opener around. If he clicks, he could easily win India the WC. This year is his best, if not last chance to do so.
 
A beast in ODI. Three double centuries in ODI. Mind boggling.

He would have been an all format great for most other teams, but he struggles to find a regular place in Indian test team despite hitting a test century on debut.

He is a cricketer who has made the most of his natural gifts of hand eye coordination. It is amazing but the trio of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli score their runs at a higher strike rate and average and win more matches for their team in ODI than the legendary trio of Sahwag, Ganguly and Tendulkar
 
If it wasn't for his teammate, we'd be discussing the merits of Rohit Sharma as the greatest ODI batsman of all time.

3 double hundreds is just insane.
 
He is a cricketer who has made the most of his natural gifts of hand eye coordination.
I'm not sure if people remember but for the longest time Rohit Sharma was considered as one of the biggest pieces of wasted talent Indian cricket has ever had. He always made batting look so easy and he performed in the IPL but in international cricket his returns were so mediocre. Troll Cricket used to call him Maggi Man because he used to be back in the dressing room within 2 minutes. This turnaround took a long time coming but he sure has made it worth the wait.
 
Dhoni is the biggest blessing for Ind cricket. Love the guy, his tactics and smartness. He has played big role in making ashwin what he is today. He 'll develop chahal and kuldeep as well if he stays behind the stumps.

On topic, I remember my Ind friends always bashed Rohit for his inconsistency he has turned his career around, always worried if this guy stays for 20-25 balls he 'll make it count.
 
What a great move this was by Dhoni. Wasn't sure about it at the time it it paid off.
 
Dhoni is a master tactician. He reads the game brilliantly and has an excellent game awareness and grip on the game.

On Rohit, he has been an absolute beast in last 5.5 years now.
 
That was literally a future defining, reality warping move from MS, that transition was so swift we never truly had to feel the absence of the greats they replaced. If it wasn't for this decision Rohit would have been dropped eventually and we would have never got to see the Hitman that he is today. Credit where it is due, great foresight from MS.
 
Dhoni is Brock Lesnar

I was referring to Rohit...

Sorry been watching a bit of old wrestling videos on youtube off late...

Cool!! makes sense.

Growing up my friends were all crazy about wrestling while I was more into movies and comics, I do know the famous ones though :afridi
 
MSD has an astute cricketing sense with a tremendous ability to manage the game with the resources he has. This has been evident since he led India to its 1st T20 trophy, a decade ago. He recognized the shortcomings in the game as a team and was instrumental in getting rid of some of the more senior cricketers such as Sehwag who he believed were unfit. A sharp, intelligent mind.
 
He is the ' Hit man'

The Best There Is, the Best There Was, the Best There Ever Will Be.. Not really 😉
 
Rumour has it that Sachin Tendulkar was first recommended to Indian team by Dhoni.
 
To be frank, I was one of the biggest critics of Rohit in early part of his career. He surely has turned his fortunes around in a grand manner in the short formats of the game. I would still keep him away from the Test side.
 
To be frank, I was one of the biggest critics of Rohit in early part of his career.
Only makes you wonder what could have been if he had gotten to open much earlier in his career. I do remember that probably his earliest opening stints for India was the ICC World T20 2009. He scored 80 off 53 balls in the warm-up match against Pakistan and Times of India touted it as a potentially career-changing decision to send him to open, the same way it was for Sachin Tendulkar in 1994. Would we have gotten this Rohit Sharma much earlier? Because he always had the talent.
 
Rumour has it that Sachin Tendulkar was first recommended to Indian team by Dhoni.

It isn't rumor but fact which sharad pawar back then bcci president ask sachin to take captaincy after dravid resigned but he suggested to make dhoni captain instead.
 
It isn't rumor but fact which sharad pawar back then bcci president ask sachin to take captaincy after dravid resigned but he suggested to make dhoni captain instead.
He means Dhoni suggested Sachin as a player to Indian team in 1989.
 
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And some people don’t understand how important a captain is in cricket.
 
i think umar akmal could have done decent for us had he opened
 
i think umar akmal could have done decent for us had he opened

Umar never outgrew his tendency to play dumb shots after he scores 20-30 odd. There's a lot more to batting in the top order other than ball-striking ability.
 
Only makes you wonder what could have been if he had gotten to open much earlier in his career. I do remember that probably his earliest opening stints for India was the ICC World T20 2009. He scored 80 off 53 balls in the warm-up match against Pakistan and Times of India touted it as a potentially career-changing decision to send him to open, the same way it was for Sachin Tendulkar in 1994. Would we have gotten this Rohit Sharma much earlier? Because he always had the talent.

When Sharma started, India already had Sehwag, Sachin and Gambhir for the opening spot. Rohit would have struggled to get in as the opener. He was made to open at the right time and he made full use of it. No one knows if he would have done well if he was made the opener as early as 2009.
 
When Sharma started, India already had Sehwag, Sachin and Gambhir for the opening spot.
I understand that. And I understand not trying to fix something that isn't broken. But it's just a "what if" scenario considering how many prime years of this guy we're not going to get back.

Can you imagine a 2009 Sehwag with a Rohit Sharma that was coming into his own as an opener? Sehwag is the perfect foil for Rohit Sharma who would be looking to settle in early and then blast the opposition when he's set. Would be a more dangerous combination than both Sehwag-Gambhir and Dhawan-Sharma, if Sharma was even 70% the opener in 2009 that he was from 2013 onwards.
 
I understand that. And I understand not trying to fix something that isn't broken. But it's just a "what if" scenario considering how many prime years of this guy we're not going to get back.

Can you imagine a 2009 Sehwag with a Rohit Sharma that was coming into his own as an opener? Sehwag is the perfect foil for Rohit Sharma who would be looking to settle in early and then blast the opposition when he's set. Would be a more dangerous combination than both Sehwag-Gambhir and Dhawan-Sharma, if Sharma was even 70% the opener in 2009 that he was from 2013 onwards.

Gambhir was his best partner. Both were "tip and run" experts. Rohit consumes deliveries getting stuck at one end. That doesn't suit Sehwag.
 
Gambhir was his best partner. Both were "tip and run" experts. Rohit consumes deliveries getting stuck at one end. That doesn't suit Sehwag.

Sehwag-Gambhir had won us a lot of matches, and Sehwag alone had won us even more matches. Can never forget 2011 WC semis against Pakistan when Umar Gul was in red hot form and in the very first over of the match, Sehwag scored 8% of the team's score and in first 3 overs, scored 18% of teams score.
 
He shows a lot of patience in ODIs. Starting off with 1 from 10 and then exploding at the end. I wonder why he does not show such patience in test cricket.
 
Sehwag-Gambhir had won us a lot of matches, and Sehwag alone had won us even more matches. Can never forget 2011 WC semis against Pakistan when Umar Gul was in red hot form and in the very first over of the match, Sehwag scored 8% of the team's score and in first 3 overs, scored 18% of teams score.

Did you sit down and calculate these percentages?
 
He shows a lot of patience in ODIs. Starting off with 1 from 10 and then exploding at the end. I wonder why he does not show such patience in test cricket.

1. Doesn't know where his offstump is.

2. Plays the wrong line at times.

3. Cannot withstand sustained bowling pressure which invariably never happens in ODIs as each team has maybe 1-2 really good bowlers followed by average bowlers. Flat pitches help too.

4. Smart as a captain but not so much as a batsman.
 
I understand that. And I understand not trying to fix something that isn't broken. But it's just a "what if" scenario considering how many prime years of this guy we're not going to get back.

Can you imagine a 2009 Sehwag with a Rohit Sharma that was coming into his own as an opener? Sehwag is the perfect foil for Rohit Sharma who would be looking to settle in early and then blast the opposition when he's set. Would be a more dangerous combination than both Sehwag-Gambhir and Dhawan-Sharma, if Sharma was even 70% the opener in 2009 that he was from 2013 onwards.

Dhawan is a better ODI batsman than Sehwag, even adjusting for average inflation.
 
Hard pill to swallow for people with a bone to pick with Dhoni. He's amongst the greatest India has produced.
 
Along with Dilshan, Rohit has enjoyed the greatest career transformation in Limited Overs history. Perhaps one could also argue for Jayasuriya as well.

His career trajectory has been quite similar to the former, who was going nowhere as a middle-order batsman from 1999 to 2008. However, the decision to open with him in 2009 completely turned his career upside down. I wonder how much would the likes of Dilshan and Rohit achieved had they been made to open very early in their careers.
 
One of the wonderful decision by legend dhoni, Indian cricket is indebted to him for transforming our decent team into one of the powerhouse of cricket.
 
Dhawan is a better ODI batsman than Sehwag, even adjusting for average inflation.
I don't think so. Sehwag always got the team off to a flyer if he stayed at the crease. He played one way regardless of the conditions. Dhawan is a lot more circumspect that way and he scores more runs but is less dangerous than Sehwag was.
 
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