In recent times, there have been a plethora of discussions regarding MS Dhoni’s batting position in the Indian ODI setup. And it continues even after his refound touch in the Australia series where he batted at both the positions (No.4 and No.5) to lead the team to a victory in the last two much-needed games. While the Indian skipper Virat Kohli opined Dhoni’s ideal position to be No.5, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly stands on the contrary. He reckons that Dhoni should bat at No.4 ahead of the World Cup 2019, while he also predicted the middle-order lineup for India.
In the series-opener, Dhoni came to bat at No.5 when India was reduced to 4 for three in the fourth over. With the task to arrest further dismissals, Dhoni consumed a lot of deliveries to soak in the pressure on the slow SCG track. He scored a polarising 51 off 96 before departing in the 33rd over in India’s 34-run defeat. In the second match, he was looking improved as he scored a run-a-ball 55 to guide India to a six-wicket win in the last over. And in MCG, he scored a series-clinching 87 off 114 deliveries from No.4 to help India script history.
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Ganguly suggested that the former Indian skipper will gain immense confidence from his performance in Australia and that he should continue batting at No.4 for it his a perfect spot for him.
During a chat on India TV, Ganguly said, “The way Dhoni has batted in the series…we have seen him play like this after a long time. India has played well and again won a series 2-1 after being 1-0 down,” Ganguly said in IndiaTV’s show Cricket Ki Baat on Friday. “A lot was said about Dhoni after the Adelaide ODI, where he batted slow but we spoke about how the innings will give him confidence and that is exactly what happened.”
Following his opinion on Dhoni’s batting position, former Indian skipper also revealed his best possible middle-order combination for the present Indian squad. Ganguly said, “I think Kedar will play No.5 and Dhoni will play at No.4. So I think India will go with this combination only because you gave someone an opportunity and they grabbed it. So Kohli at 3, Dhoni 4 and Jadhav at 5 followed by Karthik. No.4 is right for Dhoni because it gives him time to settle in and score runs and build an innings. So this combination is fine,”
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Ganguly also showered praises for Kedar Jadhav who gave apt support to Dhoni in the unbeaten 121-run partnership that helped India win the decider in Melbourne. After the dismissal of Kohli, panic had set in for Dhoni had consumed a lot of deliveries in the partnership and India were left with 118 runs to score. Apart from that, Jadhav took the pressure off Dhoni with boundaries and gritty doubles between the wicket to keep India alive in the chase. Jadhav ended with a score of 61 runs off 57 deliveries.
Sourav Ganguly further added, “A good thing that India got from this match was Kedar Jadhav. When India was in a fix, he took the game out along with Dhoni. He had not batted in the series. He had not played a practice match and was just batting in the nets. So scoring runs in the middle makes a difference and he will take confidence from this.”
