The last 18 months had been very tough for India’s most successful skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Under the World Cup winning captain, India lost three ODI series — 1-2 against Bangladesh in Bangladesh, 1-4 against Australia Down Under and 2-3 at home against South Africa. The only ODI series victory in the last 18 months has been against Zimbabwe. The loss in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup against West Indies and the T20 series loss against the same opposition in the USA had piled the pressure on the talismanic pressure. With the results not going India’s way, there were calls from several quarters to replace Dhoni with Virat Kohli,who is doing phenomenally well in Tests. And the speculations surrounding his future as team India captain only increased after his team’s not so impressive performance in the ODI series against New Zealand. The series loss against the Black Caps would have raised doubts on his captaincy but the hosts decimated the Kiwis in the final match at Vizag to bag the series, much to the relief of their captain.
And former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly feels that Dhoni would have been under pressure, had India failed to win the series.
“He’ll be happy with this win in Vizag. Had India lost this series, Dhoni would have been under enormous pressure to retain his spot as captain. He’s fought hard and he’s fought hard today with the bat as well. He deserves this win,” Ganguly told India Today.
One of the biggest reason for India’s struggles during the series was their openers’ failure to perform. But on a difficult pitch, Rohit Sharma scored 70 runs to take India to a strong position. Speaking on his knock, Ganguly said:“Whenever Rohit plays well, India win. It was great to see him play well. He’s a big match player. When they played Australia a couple of years ago, they were 2 all in the series and he scored a double hundred in the final game. It was once again an important game for Team India.”
Chasing India’s 269 to win the series, New Zealand, who had performed well so far, succumbed to Amit Mishra’s leg-spins and were bundled out for only 79 runs. When the former skipper was asked whether England would be able to counter the Indian spinners in the upcoming series, Ganguly said: “It’s never easy playing in India when the ball spins and spinners are at their best. Teams have struggled in the past and teams in the future will. England is coming next month and life’s not going to be easy for them.