Dhoni retirement: Sourav Ganguly explains why he promoted MSD to No. 3 vs Pakistan

MS Dhoni’s name will remain etched in international cricket forever. Dhoni retired from international cricket on August 15 and has not played international cricket for more than a year. But Dhoni’s name continues to top the headlines as his fans are always trying to get a glimpse of the former Indian captain.

Ever since Dhoni stepped aside from international cricket, wishes have been pouring in for the former wicket-keeper batsman. Dhoni has a tremendous career where he succeeded as a power-hitter, finisher, wicket-keeper as well as the leader of men.

Dhoni’s first international captain Sourav Ganguly has also praised him. Ganguly backed the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh. But the president of BCCI played a big role in giving Dhoni a free run at the top of the order during the initial phase of his career.

Ganguly felt MS Dhoni can score big if promoted

Recently, the BCCI chief explained why he opted to send Dhoni at No. 3 during his fifth ODI. In the fifth match, Dhoni was sent up the order versus Pakistan, in Visakhapatnam. Dhoni slammed a majestic 148 runs in just 123 balls to announce his arrival at the Indian team.

“He (Dhoni) got the opportunity to bat at No.3 in Vizag. He scored a superb hundred and whenever he has got a chance to play more overs, he has scored big. (Sachin) Tendulkar wouldn’t have become Tendulkar if he kept batting at No.6 because you get a handful of balls to play,” Ganguly told Sportstak.

“A player is made when you send him up the order. You can’t make a player by playing him lower down the order. I always believe you can’t become a big cricketer by sitting inside the dressing room. The kind of abilities, especially the six-hitting prowess he had, was rare. He changed this towards the end of his career but when the raw MS Dhoni arrived, it was very important to make him free,” Ganguly added.

Following his Visakhapatnam knock, Dhoni went onto play plenty of scintillating knocks. MS Dhoni scored his 183* versus Sri Lanka in Jaipur in 2005. Dhoni had a couple of breathtaking knocks versus Pakistan in the 2006 tour. The former Indian captain played a match-saving half-century versus England in the Lord’s Test in 2007. In 2011, World Cup final Dhoni had an unbeaten knock of 91*, which led team India to win their second Cricket World Cup.

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