I admire Virat Kohli for backing MS Dhoni through tough times, says Sourav Ganguly

01/20/2019

Sourav Ganguly has stated that he admires Virat Kohli for staying beside and backing MS Dhoni through his lean patch of run and not abandoning the wicketkeeper to his fate in the twilight of his career. After a forgettable 2018, Dhoni returned to form in the recent ODI series against Australia.

MS Dhoni had a fine run in the recent three-match ODI series against Australia in which he scored 194 runs in three matches at the average of 194. For his two match winning knocks in the last two ODIs he was also adjudged the man of the series. But, the picture was not very rosy just a few days ago when India had lost the first ODI of the series and Dhoni was criticized heavily for his 96-ball-51 knock.

Reflecting upon Dhoni's underwhelming displays in the past, former skipper Sourav Ganguly has come out and commended Indian skipper Virat Kohli for backing Dhoni despite the wicketkeeper failing to make runs all throughout 2018.

“Both players have played a lot of matches for India with Dhoni currently being the senior most member of the side. Most of all, what has been notified about the relationship is that Kohli has stood by his ex-captain’s side even when he has been under fire for the past year or so.

“He has time and again stressed that Dhoni is a big player and one of the strengths of his team. Very few captains back their players up to this extent. I admire Kohli for not abandoning Dhoni in the last 15-16 months,” Ganguly said on India TV.

Dhoni had his worst calendar year in terms of batting record for him in which he managed to score only 275 runs in 20 ODI matches at an average barely touching 25. But throughout 2018, Indian captain Kohli had backed the former skipper and never abandoned him. Ganguly took note of the fact and expressed that this camaraderie is what great teams are made of.

“This is what makes a great team. No team can become great unless there is mutual respect and camaraderie between the big players.”