Gautam Gambhir has credited Zaheer Khan for being one of the biggest factors behind MS Dhoni’s rise as India’s Test captain. Gambhir lauded Zaheer as India’s “best world-class bowler” and acknowledged Sourav Ganguly’s role in bringing the former left-arm quick through the ranks, without which Dhoni wouldn’t have tasted the success he did in Tests.

“The reason Dhoni became such a successful captain in Test cricket is because of Zaheer Khan. He was a big blessing that Dhoni got, for which credit goes to Ganguly. According to me, Zaheer has been India’s best world class bowler,” Gambhir said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.

Zaheer played 33 Tests under Dhoni and picked up 123 wickets as India reached the top of the ICC Test rankings for the first time in 2009. Gambhir weighed in on Dhoni’s success in ODIs as well, claiming that the former India captain had the privilege of having some of the best players in the team, ones who were crucial in India’s triumphant 2011 World Cup campaign.

“Dhoni has been a very lucky captain because he got an amazing team in every format,” Gambhir said. “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.”