Asia Cup 2018: MS Dhoni is perfect No. 4 batsman for Team India, says Zaheer Khan

New Delhi, Sep 17: Despite trying too many permutation and combinations, Team India do not have a settled middle order. The unavailability of a permanent number four batsman has constantly bogged the team management which has cost them so many games.

Former India pacer Zaheer Khan has suggested that Team India should play veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni to solve this conundrum. As per Zaheer, MS Dhoni is the perfect batsman at No. 4 as he would provide the stability his team requires in the middle-order.

No. 4 position for India has been acquired by the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Sing (in his prime) and these players have helped India win so many matches. India at present is struggling to find a perfect fit for this position.

"If someone has to take the responsibility of the number four position, then it has to be MS Dhoni. If you take a look at the losses of the Indian team, they haven't had a good start. Once they haven't got off to a good start, they haven't been able to recover from a bad start. So you need experience, you need someone who has dealt with such kind of situations and soak in the pressure at that stage, take someone along with him. And that's something MS Dhoni is brilliant at," Zaheer said on Cricbuzz.

Dhoni has scored 10000 ODI runs and most of them came batting at No. 6-7 but as his finishing exploits are on the wane it is important for the team management to promote him up in the order and giving that finisher's job to someone else.

"I would almost at this stage of his career, have Dhoni at four. Move Dhoni at four and play (Kedar) Jadhav at No. 5 and (Dinesh) Karthik at No. 6. Dhoni's not quite the finisher he once was but he's still a very-very fine player. You need to give him time to build an innings. I think he needs time, and I think he's such a quality player and if he's given that time into the middle, you'll reap the rewards. To me, he plays the spin well, he doesn't have to go from the start," said former New Zealand player Simon Doull.

The Ranchi cricketer is almost indispensable from the squad. Being the senior most player in the side the 37-year-old is 'everybody's go to man'. Dhoni's presence in the side would ensure the team doesn't panic in the pressure situation. The veteran, in the absence of Kohli, should bat at No. 4 and get his mojo back with the bat.