MS Dhoni was a very lucky captain: Gautam Gambhir

Former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir believes that MS Dhoni was very lucky in terms of captaincy. According to him, MS Dhoni got the best team under him to captain. Gautam Gambhir also feels that MS Dhoni reaped the benefits of the hard work that was done by previous captains, especially Sourav Ganguly.

It was Sourav Ganguly who backed young players like Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, etc. who became an instrumental part of the team that won the 2011 World Cup under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

"Dhoni has been a very lucky captain because he got an amazing team in every format. Captaining 2011 World Cup team was very easy for Dhoni because we had players like Sachin (Tendulkar), (Virender) Sehwag, myself, Yuvraj (Singh), Yusuf (Pathan), Virat (Kohli) so he had got the best teams. Ganguly had to work very hard for it, and as a result, Dhoni won so many trophies.," Gambhir said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

Zaheer Khan was the reason MS Dhoni became a successful Test captain: Gautam Gambhir

MS Dhoni is the only captain to have won all the important ICC white-ball tournaments - the T20 World Cup, the ODI World Cup and the Champions Trophy. It was also under the leadership of MS Dhoni that India became the number one ranked Test side.

But Gautam Gambhir believes that India was a good Test team due to the presence of fine players like Zaheer Khan. Zaheer Khan had mastered the art of swinging the ball both ways and unlike many other pace bowlers knew the art of bowling on dead Indian pitches. He has played a vital role in many Indian victories under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.

"The reason Dhoni became such a successful captain in Test cricket is because of Zaheer Khan. He was a big blessing that Dhoni got, for which credit goes to Ganguly. According to me, Zaheer has been India’s best world class bowler," Gautam Gambhir asserted.

Thus Gautam Gambhir has a firm opinion that it is a good team that makes a good captain and not the other way around.