Sourav Ganguly has said that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli deserves a lot of credit for the recent good form of MS Dhoni. Ganguly backed his statement by saying that Kohli showed lot of faith Dhoni and allowed him to play the way he wanted,

“When players play for so long, MS has played over 300 ODIs for India, they know how to get runs. More than 9000 runs for Dhoni in one-day cricket and he’ll get a few more by the time he finishes. 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,” Ganguly told India Today.

“Players are made and players are broken by the faith you show in them. And I think Virat Kohli is responsible for what we are seeing of MS Dhoni today,” he added.

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Ganguly’s comments have after Dhoni’s excellent knock of 79 against Australia in the first ODI of the five-match series in Chennai. Dhoni came in at a position when Indian team was four down with a score of 64 in 16 overs, and from there, he continued to bat till the last over of the game. He played a crucial role in team India’s finishing up the innings on a score of 281.

Dhoni also shared a partnership of 118 with Hardik Pandya, which turned out to be a match-winning one as due to the rain interruption, the match was delayed by two and a half hour, and in the end, Australia were asked to chase down 164 in 21 overs.

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The runs contributed by these two made the difference in the end and India won the game by a margin of 26 runs.

Virat Should Get A Lot Of Credit For Showing Confidence On Dhoni: Sourav Ganguly 2

Though Hardik Pandya was adjudged as Man of the Match for the game Dhoni’s role was much bigger as he allowed Pandya to play big strokes once the team was in a safe situation. Till then, he rotated the strike with the all-rounder and led the team from the front.

With a win in the first ODI, India have gained a lead in the series by a margin of 1-0. Australia and India will take on each other in the second ODI on Thursday (September 21) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Rain again can play its part in the second ODI.

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