Shikhar Dhawan Reveals Rohit Sharma Opening Secret: Former Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan has shared some previously unknown information about one former Indian Cricket Team captain MS Dhoni’s most impactful decisions while at the helm of the national team, that is, to make Rohit Sharma an opener.
In the initial stages of his cricket career, Rohit was a middle-order batter. From junior cricket to playing for his domestic side to his India debut and then playing in the IPL, Rohit Sharma almost always came out to bat at number five.
This was also true when he competed for and struggled for a spot on the national team in the early 2010s. But then, after getting selected for the Champions Trophy 2023 squad, something happened that changed the trajectory of his career.
Check Out: Shikhar Dhawan Reveals Rohit Sharma Opening Secret
Back then, the captain of the Indian Cricket Team was MS Dhoni, known for his sometimes-confusing master strokes. Dhoni made the decision of pushing Sharma up the order, all the way up. Without India’s regular openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, in the squad, Dhoni decided to push the Hitman as an opener alongside Shikhar Dhawan, who himself struggled to make a place in the team in the past few years.
Not only did Shikhar and Rohit perform well in that tournament, scoring 363 and 177 runs in five matches, respectively, and helping India win the tournament, but the two also formed one of the greatest opening partnerships in white-ball cricket history. In ODIs, the two scored 5148 runs together in 115 matches with an average of 45.55.
Shikhar Dhawan Reveals Rohit Sharma Opening Secret
Shikhar Dhawan, who is an ambassador of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, recently opened up about MS Dhoni’s decision to make Rohit Sharma open for India. He told Star Sports that the decision to make Sharma open was made just half a day before the team’s first match in the competition, saying,
“This opening pair decision was made half a day prior to that match. At that time, I was also new, and I was in my own world. I had made a comeback and needed to perform well. But MS Dhoni took this decision and instructed Rohit to open.
“So I didn’t think much about it. I thought if Rohit opened, we’d enjoy batting together. We got such a great start in the first match. We were at 100 without losing a wicket. We didn’t score 30-35 runs up to the 10th over because the wicket was seaming. But I never thought that our pair would be so massive and we would play together for 10 years.”
Now, 12 years later, Rohit is the captain of the Indian Cricket Team and a certified legend of the game and, more importantly, still opening for India. He even won the 2024 T20 World Cup as the captain before retiring from the format.
He is currently leading the national team in the ongoing CT 2025, in which India has won their first two matches and has already made it to the semifinals. India vs New Zealand will be the last league match in Group A, the result of which will decide whom these teams will face in the semis.
Check Out: Shikhar Dhawan Reveals Rohit Sharma Opening Secret
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