After winning the bilateral ODI series in Australia for the first time, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli lauded the Player of the Series award winner MS Dhoni and claimed that the former Indian World Cup-winning captain is the most committed to the Indian cricket team.

The last calendar year (2018) was not a good time for MS Dhoni with the bat, especially in ODI format where he finished with the average of 25.00. Many people criticised Dhoni for his poor form and some also advised him to think about his retirement.

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However, Dhoni has superbly returned to the form at the very beginning of the New Year as he has hit three half-centuries in the first three ODIs of the year. Scoring 193 runs in three-match ODI series in Australia with the average of 193.00, Dhoni won the Player of the Series award while India won the ODI series by 2-1.

In the post-match press conference, the Indian skipper Kohli said, “I think firstly as a team we are very happy for Dhoni. That he is amongst the runs, because it is very important to get runs under your belt to get that rhythm and get that confidence back. Especially, when you have not been playing so much international cricket.”

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“Many things happen on the outside. People say a lot of things but as an individual we know that there is no one more committed to Indian cricket than Dhoni and people should let him have his space because he has contributed so much for the nation.

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“They should let him figure out things on his own and what he needs to do. He is one of the most intelligent cricketers and he is not someone who is not aware about what needs to be done. As a team we are totally in sync with what he is doing and we are all very happy for him.”

In the recent days, Dhoni rarely bats at no.4 position. After observing his fine form in the first two matches of the ODI series in Australia at the no.5 batting position, the wicketkeeper-batsman promoted to the no.4 position on Friday during the Melbourne ODI where he played a crucial match-winning knock of unbeaten 87 runs off 114 balls (6 fours).

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Talking about Dhoni’s role as a middle-order batsman, Kohli claimed that they felt the no.5 position was the ideal position for Dhoni.

Kohli stated, “Dhoni batted at number four in 2016 for a while. But after that he has been pretty happy playing at five and six for the team. We felt that number five was the ideal position for him. And if you saw him bat at Adelaide as well he was pretty comfortable in that position because that allows him to do a bit of both – get some game time as well as finish games off, attacking as and when required.”

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After playing a slow knock of 51 off 96 balls during the first ODI of the series at Sydney, Dhoni played two match-winning unbeaten knocks of 55* (54 balls) and 87* (114 balls) at Adelaide and Melbourne respectively. Kohli has felt that Dhoni came to his natural game from the Adelaide ODI.

Kohli said, “He was more himself from that game (Adelaide) on, and he built onto this knock today. We are pretty happy with the batting combination that we had in Adelaide. When someone like Hardik Pandya is not there you have to balance somehow. So a lot of things vary in that regard. But we as a team, and myself as captain, we feel that Dhoni at five is the most logical. It is the ideal place for him and the team as well.”