Ganguly on Dhoni’s Adelaide innings: Former India captain considered Dhoni’s Adelaide knock to be positive signs for India.
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It would not be wrong to say that former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 69th half-century has come as a source of relief for his fans and the Indian team management. The fact that his contribution came in a winning cause meant a lot for the team.
Dhoni, who was undergoing a lean patch in ODIs for the whole of 2018, has started 2019 on a better note. Despite his half-century at Sydney consumed way too many deliveries, him at least spending time in the middle comes as positive signs for the team.
The best thing about Kohli’s innings today was how he played the situation. And, especially, how he upped his strike rate in order to give Dhoni the time he needed. Was around over no 33 from Behrendorff where he changed his game. That is how good partnerships work.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 15, 2019
Bhuvi ensured Aus didn’t get 325 or more, then Virat did the Virat thing, Dhoni made us nostalgic and Karthik again showed the value he brings when there are a handful of balls left. All in all very impressive that from India!👏👏👏🙏#IndiaVsAus
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) January 15, 2019
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who was earlier vocal about his belief in Dhoni hitting the ball in the stands, was one of those pleased Indians who enjoyed the sight of Dhoni successfully finishing the match for his team yesterday.
“Two things are to be seen from this innings. When he [Dhoni] was playing with Virat, he played differently and when he was out, he changed his game. When Kohli plays, he takes the pressure off the other player but once he got out, he took the game forward,” Ganguly was quoted as saying in India TV’s show Cricket Ki Baat.
MS Dhoni has played these kind of innings over and over and over again. This has always been his strength and today we saw a perfect example of that: Dinesh Karthik #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/RUAo0FufOI
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) January 15, 2019
With India’s chase going to the last over, MS Dhoni was in his elementhttps://t.co/mxOE6gfk7v #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/rrPu81uO0l
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 15, 2019
Considering Dhoni’s innings to be a big positive for India, Ganguly said that the innings speaks highly about the team management backing him in ODIs.
“Dhoni played a great inning after a long time. It is a big positive for India that he played like that and this will give him confidence. The team management will also get confidence from this that they were not wrong to back him,” Ganguly added.
The series-deciding third match between Australia and India will be played on Friday at Melbourne.
