India skipper Virat Kohli has said that the burden of shouldering too much responsibility resulted in Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s indifferent performance with the bat in the last couple of years or so.
Considered as one of the finest limited-overs batsmen of all time, Dhoni has looked like a pale shadow of his former self in the last few months. He has struggled to score on a consistent basis but did extremely well when he was promoted up the batting order during the series against England earlier this year.
The former India skipper scored 165 runs in three matches including a 134-run knock, as India won the 3-match series 2-1.
“The one thing we needed to strengthen was our lower middle-order contribution. I felt too much burden was coming on MS Dhoni in the past couple of years. He wasn’t able to express himself purely because of the fact that there are not enough guys showing composure to finish off the game with him,” Kohli said while addressing a press conference after landing in London with the team on Thursday (May 25) for the ICC Champions Trophy.
The 28-year old credited Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya for taking some pressure off Dhoni with their exploits as lower-order batsmen.
“Having had Jadhav and Hardik do so well in that particular phase of the innings has really strength our squad. Hardik coming in provides that beautiful balance to us,” he explained.
Team India walks in the Champions Trophy as the defending champions and the Men in Blue have been tipped as the hot-favourites to retain their title. Kohli said that he has a ‘pretty balanced’ side at his disposal but insisted that the fate of the team will depend on how it executes its plans.
“I think we are pretty balanced going forward. We are a balanced side. Bowlers are bowling well. The batsmen are playing well, we got all-rounders, we have got really good fast bowlers. We are in pretty good head space going into this tournament,” he said.
It’s about execution now. You might have the best side in the world but if you do not execute there is no point having that skill. In a tournament like this it all boils down to how you execute on the day,” he added.
The eight-team tournament will begin on June 1 while India will begin their campaign on June 4 against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston.