“I think he should bat at No. 4,” says Rohit Sharma on MS Dhoni’s batting position

Rohit Sharma on MS Dhoni’s batting position: The Indian vice-captain was vocal about the senior cricketer’s batting position.

Having won the Test series 2-1, India were expected to bring the winning momentum in the ODI series as well. With them losing the first ODI at Sydney by 34 runs, that clearly doesn’t seem to have happened.

Another expectation from India was them successfully chasing down a target of 289 runs on a batting wicket. Having said that, the Indian batsmen managed to quash that as well.

While India’s top-three have been dominating proceedings in run-chases in the last half a decade, it wasn’t the case today as both Shikhar Dhawan (0) and Virat Kohli (3) went back to the pavilion cheaply. With Ambati Rayudu (0) joining them in the pavilion after a couple of balls later, India were reeling at 4-3 in the fourth over.

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It was at this point in time that India vice-captain and opening batsman Rohit Sharma and wicket-keeper batsman stitched a 137-run stand for the fourth wicket. While the partnership surely gave India stability, its show pace put a lot of pressure on the incoming batsman.

Both Sharma and Dhoni started off slowly but the sole difference between them was that the former covered the dot balls with acceleration after getting eye in. It is true that Dhoni was adjudged out on a delivery which pitched outside the leg-stump but that is a part of the game.

Since the start of 2018, Dhoni’s 326 runs have come at an average of 27.16 and a strike rate of 67.77. Dhoni’s strike rate of 53.12 was even worse today. Citing the same, there have been calls for him batting up at order, perhaps at No. 4.

A top-order collapse saw Dhoni getting the time which he did. In normal circumstances, him taking so many deliveries to get his eye can put lot of pressure on the other batsmen. During the post-match press conference, Sharma was asked about Dhoni’s batting position in ODIs and his answer surprised one and all.