Kohli backs under-fire Dhoni

Photo: AFP

New Delhi: Former skipper MS Dhoni was heavily criticized for his slow innings during the fourth ODI against West Indies, which saw the hosts emerged victorious by 11 runs but now, skipper Virat Kohli has come in support of his predecessor.

After guiding India to series victory in Jamaica Virat Kohli said, “He is striking the ball beautifully, you don't need to tell him (Dhoni) anything in terms of how to play a situation, how to build an innings."

The Ranchi born cricketer failed to lead the visitors to victory and registered slowest fifty in India’s ODI history (54 off 114 deliveries) as India went down by 11 runs while chasing mere 188 runs. He scored just one boundary in the entire innings.

"You have to figure out what kind of wickets you are playing on as well. I was trying to hit the spinners a couple of days in practice and I couldn't because the wickets were not that great to play strokes, the wicket in the centre was much better," Kohli said.

"You can't really judge a guy's batting form at practice because you don't know what kind of wickets you are going to get," he added.

Kohli also mentioned that it was ideal for Dhoni to play a slow innings keeping in mind that the ball was not coming on the bat.