Sourav Ganguly endorses the idea of Dhoni playing at No. 4

Sourav Ganguly: Cricket is not rocket science, India need MS Dhoni at No.4

Since the beginning of the ODI series against the New Zealand team Indian captain has promoted himself to no. 4 in the batting order. Everybody is thrilled and intrigued with this decision.

Dhoni has justified his decision by saying, “To some extent, I am losing my ability to freely rotate in the middle, so I have decided to bat up and let others finish.”

We all know how big a player Dhoni is and his abilities to contribute to team wins that has made him the most successful captain of Indian history.

He has been struggling at No. 5 and No.6 –the slots where he built himself a reputation for being one of the best finishers in cricketing history. Since his retirement from test cricket the Indian skipper is absolutely clear that he wants to bat at No. 4 now onwards and there is no ambiguity regarding the reason either.

Indian former captain Sourav Ganguly has also endorses the idea of Dhoni playing at No. 4 in the batting order.

Sourav Ganguly told India Today: “It is a simple theory, ODI cricket is not rocket science. The best batsmen in your team need to play the maximum deliveries to put pressure on the opposition. I hope Dhoni continues to bat at No.4 but I don’t know if he will continue to do that. I hope Anil Kumble speaks to Dhoni and tells him to stick to number 4 because it makes life easier for him and it makes life easier for people coming down the order. He has not got an ODI hundred in 3 years and the reason is that he just bats 40 or 50 balls in an ODI match. He not only undermines his talent but also undermines the team’s capacity of winning games. He keeps talking about finishing games but he finished the game in Mohali as well, maybe India were a few runs behind when he got out but he had played so well at number 4 that when Manish Pandey came in and Virat was at the other end the game was over. It is good for him because he is getting towards the later end of his career, I don’t know how long will he play, but it is important for him to come in this position and keep performing all the time.”

Apart from him getting a lot of time on the ground while playing at No. 4 Dhoni will join Virat Kohli more often in the middle. The duo has a superb reputation of stealing double with their superb running between the wickets. The shuffle in the batting order will also prompt the team management to start looking for a new finisher for the side.