Sourav Ganguly was critical of the Indian team management’s handling of KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane and reckoned the side was too dependent on the top three – Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli.
India lost the three-match ODI series to England at Leeds on Tuesday – it was their first series loss since January 2016 and came after another poor show by the middle-order. Rohit got a hundred in the first match while Kohli scored two half-centuries at Old Trafford and Leeds. Dhawan was far from his best and that meant the onus was on the middle-order to fire.
More disconcerting was MS Dhoni’s form. At Lord’s, he failed to get going when India needed some big hits during a steep chase while at Leeds, he scored a scratchy 42. And then there was the bizarre decision to leave KL Rahul out of the last ODI after plenty of pre-series hype given his form in the IPL and the T20Is.
Ganguly said Dhoni needed to do more if he is to play in the 2019 World Cup.
“If Dhoni has got to play, then he has got to get in a position where he keeps hitting. If it is 24-25 overs and he has got to build an innings, he is struggling at the moment.
“He may turn it around as he has been a great player for India but at the present he is not turning it around enough and this has been going on for more than an year,” said Ganguly.
“India are too top heavy at the moment. If your top-order doesn’t get runs, then you are struggling. It is a big issue. You have to have quality like England have,” said Ganguly in his post-match analysis for the official broadcasters.
