Delighted with Rohit Sharma's match-winning knock against Bangladesh in the cricket World Cup, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said the Mumbai batsman has now become an asset at the opener's slot after his "talent was being wasted" in the middle-order.
After Rohit smashed 137 off 126 balls in the quarterfinal at the MCG today, the skipper was asked about changes he found in 'Rohit of 2015' compared to 'Rohit of 2011'.
"If I have to go back four years, it won't be a realistic comparison, the reason being he was not really opening for us at that point of time. We felt that he was a bit of waste of talent if he was batting at 6 for us because more often than not he was not getting enough chance to bat, as our top-order was quite fixed. We couldn't really make him play or give him enough opportunities," Dhoni said at the post-match media conference.
He was in a mood to talk extensively on Rohit as he spent a lot of time doing a detailed analysis of the talented Mumbaikar.
"If you see in the first 40 games, you may think he has not done enough. But out of those 40, there were quite a few times when he went in to bat in the last four or five overs, and it's difficult.
"In India, at times you don't really get a chance to bat and you may get a chance in the last maybe couple of matches with 10 overs to go, and it all counts as chances. That was the time we decided we'll try to make him an opener, and he accepted that.
"He did open for us in the World T20 (Sri Lanka) and from that point, we thought it will be good to have him as an opener because he cuts and pulls well, and he's a natural stroke player, again, which to some extent helps if you have somebody in the top order, once he gets going if you can play innings," Dhoni added.
Rohit and Suresh Raina today added 122 runs for the fourth wicket and Dhoni was satisfied in the manner they turned the game on from a complex situation.
