Mahendra Singh Dhoni knows how to pace his innings according to varied match situations which still makes him an asset for India, said former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie.
Dhoni has started the year in style, scoring two half-centuries in successive ODIs as he rolled back time to finish the Adelaide ODI to level the three-match series 1-1.
“India have benefitted from Dhoni’s finishing ability for more than a decade. They are still benefitting from it. They benefitted from his experience when they were down at 4-3 in Sydney as well. He was a bit slow in Sydney but you have to understand why. He played the situation,” Gillespie told PTI.
“And it is tough to keep coming down the order and playing as per different situations. In Adelaide, he had a completely different situation, so he played differently (in the second ODI). He has played over 300 ODIs so he knows how to play these different situations,” he added.
India chased down 299 riding on skipper Virat Kohli’s 39th ODI hundred.
Gillespie termed Kohli’s hundred as an “absolute masterclass” and rated the Indian captain as someone who is a notch above his peers.
“It was an absolute masterclass from Kohli. He is a class player and a different batsman to everyone else. Numbers speak for themselves and you genuinely don’t need to add anything to it. Thirty nine hundreds and 10,000 plus runs in ODI cricket in 50 fewer innings than Tendulkar.
“And we all knew how good a player Tendulkar was. It is simply incredible what Kohli is doing. He is the best in world cricket at the moment, simple,” Gillespie was at loss of words to praise the legend in the making.
