Saurav Ganguly was famous for having the ability to spot a talented individual and making him fit in the team. The classic case of Virender Sehwag is a brilliant example of a captain having faith in a guy and giving him the chance to prove himself.
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Sehwag was always a middle order batsman who was known to hit the ball a long way. Ganguly saw something special in the right hander and told him to open the innings. With Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman in the middle order Sehwag realized that his captain is right and that he had to make it as an opener to remain in the side.
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And then the rest is history.
MS Dhoni similarly had faith in Rohit Sharma and stuck by him during the tough times. Sharma was a super talent who just could not find the consistency to perform at the international level. But Dhoni understood that a special talent like Rohit needed to some special attention.
“We have to see what others are not seeing. Rohit Sharma is one of the best examples. He accepted that challenge of becoming an opener. In limited-overs, he is one of the best openers who is playing right now.”
“You have to at times think out of the box. We were like the amount of talent this guy has, I have to make him play. For that, if I have to make him an opener, I will do it,” Dhoni said.
“Whether he is up to the mark, only his performance will judge that. You can only do that if your other 5-6 batsmen are performing. If you keep losing games, you can’t give games to individuals. If you lose 3-4 games,you have to make a few changes.:
“If you keep playing the same XI then others who are your bench strength won’t get a reality check of what they have on offer. It is slightly complex but what’s easiest and what always works during a series is to give the individual as much confidence as possible,” he added.
There is no doubt that Mahi played a huge role in shaping Rohit to become the player that he is right now. One of the best openers in the world, Rohit Sharma still has good few years ahead of him and he will certainly be looking to make up for lost time.
