MS Dhoni shouldn't have been booed by the Lord's crowd: Sourav Ganguly

India suffered a disappointing end to the limited overs leg of the England tour with the heartening ODI series loss, as they were completely outplayed by the opposition in both the second and third ODI matches. They won the T20I series 2-1 and then started the ODI series with a clinical victory at Trent Bridge in the first ODI.

However, there were many shortcomings which were out of question during India’s winning streak, but all those worries will be under the scanner and should be looked upon considerably by the team management. The major worrying factor in this series has been the poor form of MS Dhoni, who struggled a lot in rotating the strike and even in striking the boundaries.

Dhoni is a too great player to get booed: Ganguly

In the second ODI match at Lord’s, the Indian team were chasing 323 runs on a slightly slow wicket and the England spinners were also getting some help from the conditions. Dhoni came into bat during the 27th over, when the team required 183 runs to win from the remaining 23 overs.

However, the wicket-keeper batsman was seen struggling a lot against the spinners and was not at all looking at ease during his innings of 37 runs off 59 balls. He was also booed by the Lord’s crowd for his below-par knock as they expected much more from a great finisher of his standards.

Dhoni’s poor form continued in the third ODI as well, where he scored 42 runs off 66 balls and failed to take his team to a fighting total. Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, who is part of the commentary panel for the tour, reckoned that Dhoni is one of the greats of the game and should not have been booed by the crowd. Ganguly also mentioned that the wicket-keeper batsman found it difficult to rotate the strike.

“The people shouldn’t boo Dhoni. He’s one of the greats. I don’t think we will ever find a player like him in the times to come. He got stuck out there, couldn’t rotate the strike,” said Ganguly in a conversation with India TV.

Dhoni should start hitting from the first ball

Ganguly advised that MS Dhoni should start hitting the ball hard at the earliest situations because that is his natural game. The former Indian cricketer revealed that the 37-year old should start playing the way he used to do during his initial days, where he used to hit the bowlers in all parts of the ground on his will. At the same time, Sourav also added that the team management should consider giving Dhoni the No 6 spot for some time and ask him to play his natural game in all situations.

“He should start hitting because that’s his natural game. One starts questioning his abilities, as to whether he can perform in the same fashion like he did before. In 2005, he used to hit bowlers in any conditions. In Pakistan, he went and hit sixes all around. The team management should sit and talk to him, give him the No.6 spot and tell him to get back to his natural game,” added the former Indian cricketer.

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