MS Dhoni hasn't given enough quality players to Virat Kohli; Sourav Ganguly gave world-beaters to India: Gautam Gambhir

Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni are considered as two integral pillars of Indian cricket. Team India’s resurgence started with Ganguly inducing a winning attitude in the side.

‘Dada’, after taking over the job in 1999, steered India to 21 wins in 49 Tests and 76 wins in 146 ODIs. The Men in Blue also won the NatWest Series in 2002 and made it to the final of the 2003 World Cup, where they were defeated by a dominant Australian side.

After Ganguly’s departure, it was MS Dhoni who filled the void and became one of the most successful skippers across the world. A young Dhoni stunned the world by guiding India to win the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. He followed it up with 2011 ODI World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. Dhoni is the only captain to have three major ICC titles under his belt.

Over the years, there have been many comparisons between the achievements and leadership styles of Ganguly and Dhoni. Former India opener Gautam Gambhir, who has been critical of Dhoni in recent times, has said that the former skipper didn’t give enough ‘quality players’ to his successor Virat Kohli.

According to Gambhir, India only had Kohli and Rohit Sharma following the retirement of legends while Ganguly, on the other hand, gave the world several ‘world-beaters’ after his departure.

Gautam Gambhir had recently termed Dhoni a ‘lucky’ captain

“When MS Dhoni finished [his captaincy stint], he hasn’t given enough quality players to Virat Kohli, apart from Virat Kohli himself and Rohit Sharma, or Jasprit Bumrah now. There are not too many world-beaters or probably people who win you tournaments,” Gambhir was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“But look at what Sourav Ganguly gave to Indian cricket: Yuvraj Singh, Man of the Series in two World Cups [Yuvraj was only Man of the Series in the 2011 World Cup; Shahid Afridi was Man of the Series in the 2007 World T20], Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag – these kinds of world-beaters,” he added.

Recently, Gambhir had also termed Dhoni a ‘lucky’ captain as he had the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli and many more stalwarts in his armoury. It made Dhoni’s job easier, unlike Ganguly, who had to work very hard as a captain.

“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, Sehwag, myself, Yuvraj, Yusuf, Virat, so he had got the best teams, while Ganguly had to work very hard for it, and as a result, Dhoni won so many trophies,” Gambhir had said.