He is a 'role model' and a 'superstar of the game', says Justin Langer on MS Dhoni

What's the story?

Justin Langer has praised the Indian team and particularly MS Dhoni after the Australian team lost the ODI series to India yesterday. India won the 3rd ODI at Melbourne by 7 wickets thereby defeating the hosts 2-1 in the ODI tournament.

The background

Although the Australian team started the ODI series with a victory at Sydney, they lost two consecutive matches to Indian thereby ending the tournament on a disappointing note. MS Dhoni was the thorn for Australia as the World Cup-winning captain scored three consecutive half-centuries thereby erasing any doubts about his form before the World Cup.

Justin Langer has summarized his team's performance and heaped praise on the Indian team after the final game of India's tour of Australia yesterday.

The details

Justin Langer was impressed with MS Dhoni's performance as he called him a "role-model" and " a superstar of the game". Despite being 37-years-old, MS Dhoni was at his best running between the wickets and scoring runs for the team. Langer also pointed out that Dhoni's energy levels had not dropped despite the soaring temperatures. Hence, the Australian coach addressed the man-of-the-series as a superstar and was of the opinion that the Australian cricketers should also aspire to become like Dhoni.

Describing India's success on this tour, Langer said, “MS Dhoni, like Virat Kohli, like Cheteshwar Pujara in the Test series, they give us really great role models. MS Dhoni, his record, everything speaks for itself as a captain, batsman, wicketkeeper. He is literally an all-time great of the game and it has been, as hard as it is to lose, a privilege to play against those guys.”

Langer emphasized on Australia's failure to hold onto the catches from the bat of MS Dhoni which affected them in the course of the game. MS was dropped at Melbourne and he was there until the 49th over to finish the game. Langer was also hopeful of his young squad to learn from their mistakes and gain experience from rubbing shoulders with the greats of the game like MS Dhoni.

Summarizing his team's performance in the series, Langer added, “It has not been a one-sided series. India has been too good for us all summer, in Tests and in ODIs. But it has been a close one. The boys have fought hard and we have had some real positives. Jhye Richardson has been a shining light. Peter Handscomb has done a good job in the middle overs and Shaun Marsh has been in great nick. We had our chances and we just didn’t take them.”

Langer also expressed confidence in his team and was hopeful that the players would learn from their mistakes and do well in the upcoming games.

What's next?

While the Indian team will now travel to New Zealand for a limited overs tournament, the Aussies will be playing red-ball cricket against the Sri Lankan team.

With the World Cup nearing, both teams will look to gain some much-needed momentum before they fly to England.