Team India Best T20 Playing 11 under MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma

Two T20 World Cup-winning Captains, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma go head-to-head as we look at the best t20 Playing 11 for Team India.

If we look at the history of Team India’s T20 cricket, the team will always be remembered for the two greatest triumphs in history, the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup. It was MS Dhoni under whom we won our first-ever T20 World Cup in 2007, and 17 years later, it is Rohit Sharma under whom were able to achieve that feat finally. 

If we look at the squads of both teams, you would see contrasting things. While MS Dhoni’s men were most young with average age being around 25, Rohit Sharma’s men were mostly experienced with average age being around 30. It’s quite surprising, but India were able to achieve the summit with two completely different mindsets and strategies.

But if we have to look at the best playing 11 for Team India under MS Dhoni’s Captaincy in 2007 vs that of Rohit Sharma’s Captaincy in 2024, how does it look like? Well, let’s look at each category individually, and find out what differentiates the teams in terms of the combinations, strengths, and weaknesses.

Team RO vs Team MS – 2007 & 2024 T20 World Cup

Starting with the openers for both teams, we have Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir under Team MS vs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli under Team RO. Sehwag as we know was all about attack from right ball 1. The same approach RO also had in 2024. Surprisingly, the other two openers, Gautam and Kohli, both from Delhi, played a match-winning 70+ in the T20 World Cup final.

Coming to the middle-order, Team MS had Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, and young Rohit Sharma himself. Whereas Team RO had Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, and Shivam Dube. Comparing the two, the 2007 middle-order looked more stable with the likes of Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh, and an attacking young Rohit Sharma in place. Whereas 2024 middle-order did have Pant, SKY, and Dube, but all three were playing out of their comfort zone.

Robin Uthappa was quite instrumental for India in playing useful cameos. The same thing Rohit Sharma did for Team MS. However, Yuvraj played a lot of key knocks in the World Cup including the stunning knocks against England and Australia. For Team RO, Pant and SKY played really well in the most difficult batting wickets. Whereas Dube played a key cameo in the final, which was kind of a differentiator.

Team India’s Best T20 World Cup 2007 Playing Under MS Dhoni

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Gautam Gambhir
3. Robin Uthappa
4. Yuvraj Singh
5. Rohit Sharma
6. MS Dhoni (c&wk)
7. Joginder Sharma
8. Irfan Pathan
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. RP Singh
11. S. Sreesanth

Finishers?

If we compare the finishers, Team MS had only MS Dhoni himself and Irfan Pathan in the team; thus signifying the lack of batting depth. Whereas Team RO had solid batting depth with the likes of Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel being there. Apart from providing batting depth, the three under Team RO could bowl too. However, for Team MS, there was only Irfan and Yuvraj to provide additional bowling options. But MS mostly played with only 5 bowlers throughout the tournament.

Talking about the bowlers, Team MS didn’t have the most known names on the paper as compared to Team RO which had a solid bowling lineup. While MS had RP Singh, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, and Irfan as the top 4 bowlers, Team RO had Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, and Hardik Pandya as the top 4 bowlers. It’s clearly visible Team RO had a superior bowling lineup, and also relied more on all-rounders.

Team India’s Best T20 World Cup 2024 Playing Under Rohit Sharma

1. Rohit Sharma (c)
2. Virat Kohli
3. Rishabh Pant (wk)
4. Suryakumar Yadav
5. Shivam Dube
6. Hardik Pandya
7. Axar Patel
8. Ravindra Jadeja
9. Kuldeep Yadav
10. Arshdeeo Singh
11. Jasprit Bumrah

So, that’s about the best T20 World Cup playing 11 for Team India under MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Overall, if you see, MS Dhoni seems to have a relatively less competent side as compared to RO. Rohit had a more experienced side with a good bowling lineup. The team felt perfect from all departments, and with good management, it came out as a winner. Whereas MS Dhoni’s team needed that inspiration and boost from the captain, which MS Dhoni provided.    

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