1Ganguly said Kohli should take a lot of credit for Dhoni’s form
2Dhoni has scored 627 runs in 14 innings in 2017 at an average of 89.50
3Dhoni is the fourth Indian player to score 100 international fifties
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Monday said Virat Kohli should take a lot of credit for the way Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been performing in ODIs this year.
Ganguly believes the faith that Kohli has showed in Dhoni has transformed his game which is why the 36-year-old has regained his form in limited-overs cricket.
“When players play for so long, MS has played over 300 ODIs for India, they know how to get runs. More than 9000 runs for Dhoni in one-day cricket and he’ll get a few more by the time he finishes. It’s the captain’s confidence and Virat should get a lot of credit for it because he’s put a lot of faith in Dhoni and that allowed MS to play the way he wanted.
“Players are made and players are broken by the faith you show in them. And I think Virat Kohli is responsible for what we are seeing of MS Dhoni today,” Ganguly told.
Team India once again relied upon Dhoni when the situation got tough for the home team after they were reduced to 87/5 batting first against Australia. Dhoni got together with all-rounder Hardik Pandya (83 off 66 balls) and the duo added 118 runs for the sixth wicket.
The 23-year-old Pandya meted out special treatment to Adam Zampa, taking the young leg-spinner to the cleaners on three consecutive occasions to get to his third ODI fifty off 48 balls before falling to the same bowler, later in the innings.
Dhoni, at the other end, provided stability with a patient 75-ball 50 but more importantly carried on after the loss of Pandya to forge another healthy 72-run seventh wicket stand with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (32) as India posted 281/7 in 50 overs.
Rain interrupted play for over two hours after the first innings as a result of which Australia got a revised target of 164 to chase in 21 overs.
A superb performance from leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (3/30), Pandya (2/28) and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav (2/33) then saw India restrict the Aussies for 137/9.
“Brilliant (on Dhoni’s knock). He paced his innings superbly, played according to the situation used all his experience. When a captain has faith in his senior players who’s played more than 300 ODIs the runs will come. Kohli should take a lot of credit for allowing Dhoni to play the way he is doing at the moment.”
Dhoni has been in tremendous form in the one-day format this year. The 36-year-old has scored 627 runs in 14 innings in 2017 at an average of 89.57 including one hundred and five half-centuries. Sunday night was the first instance of Dhoni getting out in his last five ODI innings after scoring 241 runs.
Dhoni’s 66th half-century in ODIs saw him complete 100 fifties in international cricket. He is the fourth Indian player after Sachin Tendulkar (164), Rahul Dravid (146) and Sourav Ganguly (107) to score a century of fifties in international cricket.
Ganguly also heaped praise on Pandya, who showed a lot of maturity while batting with Dhoni.
“He’s (Pandya) getting better and that’s the best part of it. You can see the confidence, because of the performance with the bat, in his bowling. If you do well in one aspect of the game you automatically get better in the other aspect.
“He’s got to think big because the job of an all-rounder is not easy. He’s fit, he works hard and for him the role model should be Jacques Kallis. I’m not comparing him with the Kallis but he should start looking at putting in performances over a period of 10 years in all formats because he’s got ability.
“He’s very important to this squad’s progress in the next couple of years provided he keeps his head on his shoulders and keep the confidence going. The next 15 months, when he goes to South Africa, England and Australia, once he goes past that circle he’ll either become a very good player or he’ll probably start fading away,” Ganguly said.
