Former India captain Sourav Ganguly heaped praise on Virat Kohli’s continued faith in veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the latter contributed with a vital knock of 79 in the first One-Day International in Chennai on Sunday against Australia. Dhoni’s resilient knock went a long way in India seizing the initiative during the rain-affected contest after being reduced to 87/5 at one stage.
Ganguly observed that Dhoni’s innings stemmed from his captain’s support. “When players play for so long – MS [Dhoni] has played over 300 ODIs for India – they know how to get runs,” he told India Today. “More than 9,000 runs for Dhoni in one-day cricket and he’ll get a few more by the time he finishes.”
He added, “It’s the captain’s confidence and Virat should get a lot of credit for it because he’s put a lot of faith in Dhoni and that allowed MS to play the way he wanted. Players are made and broken by the faith you show in them. And I think Virat Kohli is responsible for what we are seeing of MS Dhoni today.”
Dhoni, along with a swashbuckling Hardik Pandya, stitched a 118-run partnership for the sixth wicket to put the pressure back on the Australians. After grafting his first fifty runs, the former India captain was at his boundary-hitting best in the final overs, targeting left-armer James Faulkner at will. “[I was a] brilliant [knock].” said Ganguly. “He paced his innings superbly, played according to the situation used all his experience. When a captain has faith in his senior players who’s played more than 300 ODIs the runs will come. Kohli should take a lot of credit for allowing Dhoni to play the way he is doing at the moment.”
Pandya’s role model should be Jacques Kallis
Ganguly also reserved words of praise for all-rounder Pandya, who slammed a blistering 83 from 66 balls in the first ODI to set up India’s 26-run win. The 44-year-old warned the Gujarat youngster that he has his task cut out during the season while praising his abilities, “He’s got to think big because the job of an all-rounder is not easy. He’s fit, he works hard and for him the role model should be Jacques Kallis. I’m not comparing him with the Kallis but he should start looking at putting in performances over a period of 10 years in all formats because he’s got ability,” Ganguly said.
He added: “He’s very important to this squad’s progress in the next couple of years provided he keeps his head on his shoulders and keep the confidence going. The next 15 months, when he goes to South Africa, England and Australia, once he goes past that circle he’ll either become a very good player or he’ll probably start fading away.”
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