Sourav Ganguly says Virat Kohli will make sure Dhoni bats in the top order

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was very impressed with the way MS Dhoni batted in the 2nd ODI against England at Cuttack and said he must continue to bat in the top order. He was also confident about the fact that Virat Kohli will make sure that Dhoni bats at either No.5 or No.4. Her emphasised on the fact that Dhoni has got the ability to hit the big shots and if u give him enough time to settle in he will be a brute force in the late overs.

“It’s simple common sense that you need to bat up the order. He got himself in and once he got in, you saw those big sixes. Virat Kohli will make sure he just bats at the top of the order and doesn’t go down. Even in T20 cricket, he may bat at four. There will be a bit of competition between him and Yuvraj at 4 or 5 now. Either he bats at 4 and Yuvraj at 5 or Yuvraj bats at 4 and he at 5,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by India Today.

“There is a bit of freedom in his game. What happened today is he got time to pace his innings. He came in at 25/3..India is a spot of bother and he had enough No.of overs to get his hundred. We kept saying for the last six years that he’s so good and he should bat at No.5 and the reason we keep saying is he gets more overs to play,” the southpaw added.

Ganguly also heaped praises on Yuvraj Singh who went to notch up his 14 ODI century and the first after the 2011 World Cup. It was an exceptional effort from the stylish southpaw and his emotional reaction after reaching his century showed how much the century meant to Yuvi.

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“Amazing isn’t it. It just goes to show it’s not over till you actually think it’s over. He was magnificent. When Yuvraj Singh starts playing pull shots in front of the wicket you realise that he’s got the time to do it. It was great innings. He was a bit under pressure. A big series for him because comebacks are never easy. Both him and Dhoni played superbly,” Ganguly said.

“380 was a terrific effort. A monumental effort. England needed to attack after India were 25/3 but they didn’t. They let the game drift and allowed Yuvraj and Dhoni to settle down. You got to give credit to the way Yuvraj played, Dhoni played. It was great to see them score some runs in such a fine manner,” he added.

Ganguly also praised the English side for putting up inspiring batting performances in the series so far. On both the occasion, they have posted more than 350 and ended up losing the match quite comprehensively. It is bound to worry Eoin Morgan going into the final ODI and the T20I series but Ganguly feels English is a quality limited overs team but India is always hard to beat in home conditions.

“We discussed at the start of the series that England will be a much better one day side that a Test team. I have always said India is a very very hard team to beat at home. When players like Dhoni-Yuvraj and Virat are in form, it even gets tougher. You got to give credit to the way England have played. We have seen it in the last two years that they are a very good side in the 50-overs cricket and Twenty20s because they reached the final of the World T20. Under the new coach, under Eoin Morgan, they have developed into a very very good team,” Ganguly concluded.

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