Let MS Dhoni bat at No. 4, he'll finish game from there: Sourav Ganguly

Kolkata, Oct 27: Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has backed limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision of promoting himself up in the order.

Series photos; Dhoni breaks Tendulkar record; Series results and scorecards

Ganguly, like other former India players, too feels that batting at No. 4 will enable MS Dhoni and his deputy Virat Kohli play the finishers' role for the side.

Let MS Dhoni bat at No. 4, he'll finish game from there: Sourav Ganguly — File photo: MS Dhoni

"Let him play at number four. He will finish from there. Finisher does not mean he has to bat from the 40th over. Virat (Kohli) bats at three and he is finishing games. It's a wrong concept that a finisher has to come lower down the order. Dhoni got India over the ropes in the other match batting at four," Ganguly said on the sidelines of Cricket Association of Bengal's (CAB) tie up with VLCC on Thursday (Oct 27).

(MS Dhoni tops batsmen with highest averages in successful ODI chases)

Defending a modest total of 260, New Zealand defeated India by a margin of 19 runs in the fourth ODI at Ranchi and level the 5-match series 2-2 to set a decider on Saturday (Oct 29) in Vishakhapatnam.

Indian batsmen faltered in the run chase and were bundled out at 241 by Kiwi bowlers.

Just like Dhoni, Ganguly too opined that Indian team isn't getting over dependent on team's master of chase Virat Kohli.

"He (Virat Kohli) is an excellent player, but I don't think the team is becoming too dependent on him. New Zealand is a good side. They will win some matches also," he said.

After the match in Ranchi, Dhoni was asked whether the team was depending too much on Kohli while batting second. And the captain said it was not the case and added that "stats don't reflect the exact scenario".

"It is not like that (overdependent on Kohli). In the last one to one-and-half years we have not played a lot of ODI cricket. In between we had 3 games where we played (against) Zimbabwe. It is very difficult. I say the stats don't reflect the exact scenario," Dhoni told reporters on Wednesday (Oct 26).

OneIndia News

(With inputs from agencies)