India opener Gautam Gambhir has lauded MS Dhoni for his immense contribution towards Indian cricket despite facing huge criticism. The southpaw even backed Dhoni for his innings during the team’s loss to New Zealand in the second T20I on Saturday.

Experts reckon that Dhoni (49 off 37 balls) played too many dot balls during his innings and that push India out of the game. While VVS Laxman said that someone younger should be tried in T20Is, Virender Sehwag urged that the team management should make Dhoni understand his “role in the team”.

However, Gambhir has now come in support of Dhoni, he said “You need to give credit where (it’s due). (At times) People have criticized his (MSD’s) captaincy. What he has done for Indian cricket, not a lot of people have done that, especially the way he handled the lows. It is very easy to handle the highs. But the way he has handled the lows has been remarkable. Especially in Australia and England (2011-12) where we were hammered (4-0) and still being as calm as he was, not showing too many emotions, (for that) I think a lot of credit needs to go to MS.”

Gambhir also went on to reveal how much he enjoyed a lot playing under Dhoni. He said, “I have played under Sourav (Ganguly), Rahul (Dravid), Viru (Virender Sehwag) and MS (Dhoni). I felt, I enjoyed a lot under MS. (We) had great fun; we are around the same age as well. He was pretty chilled out. He kept things very simple which was very good.”

Dhoni led India to three ICC titles during his stint as the skipper — ICC WT20 2007, 2011 ICC World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. Gambhir played a major role in the final of two of victories as he slammed 75 in the final of the WT20 against Pakistan and he also scored 97 in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede.