MS Dhoni's batting position has always been a subject of debate, even after he scored 65 off 87 balls in Dharamsala during the first ODI on Sunday. It was an innings of the highest calibre, especially when other batsmen were struggling to even stay at the crease.
The conundrum of India's middle order was further exposed with the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey failing miserably. They scored 11 runs among them, putting pressure on the entire team.
Before that, even regular and dependable openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma failed, and with run machine Virat Kohli not featuring in the series, Dhoni's 65 saved India some massive embarrassment.
India were at one point struggling at 29 runs with seven wickets down. They were looking down the barrel and their lowest ODI score of 54 runs also looked under threat. However, a mature innings from the former India captain helped India cross the triple-figure mark.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes Dhoni, who came at number six, should have walked into bat at number 4, as — he feels — the wicket-keeper batsman is the best player in such conditions.
"Dhoni should have batted at number four (today), to be honest, because when wickets are falling like nine pins you do not want to hold him back for too long. There was no Kohli, Shikhar or Rohit by the tenth over. There was a need to push him up the order and see what happens as he is the most equipped batsmen to handle these conditions and also the situation," Aakash Chopra told Hotstar during the mid-innings break.
Dhoni showed the top order how one should bat in conditions where the ball is moving. He was using his feet to the fast bowlers, and did not allow the bowlers to dictate the pace too much, and that allowed him to score runs as well.
India, despite Dhoni's heroics, could only compile 112 runs in 38.2 overs.
