MS Dhoni had to be sent at No.3 to express himself: Sourav Ganguly

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said that it was necessary to send MS Dhoni up the order to give him enough freedom to express himself at the start of his career. The current BCCI President also opined that playing a few balls would not have helped bring out the quality MS Dhoni possessed.

Sourav Ganguly was talking to Sportstak when he revealed the reason behind sending MS Dhoni at No.3 in an ODI against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam in 2005.

The current BCCI President believes that a player's talents can't be utilized optimally if he is made to continuously bat lower down the order, where he might not have the luxury of facing a lot of deliveries.

“A player is made when you send him up the order, you can’t make a player by playing him lower down the order. I always believe you can’t become a big cricketer by sitting inside the dressing room. The kind of abilities, especially the six-hitting prowess he had, was rare. He changed his towards the end of his career but when the raw MS Dhoni arrived, it was very important to make him free,” Sourav Ganguly said.

The Chennai Super Kings skipper did not have a bright start to his international career, when batting lower down the order.

MS Dhoni was promoted to No.3 in his fifth ODI against Pakistan and it turned out to be the perfect launching pad of his career. The wicket-keeper scored 148 runs from 123 balls and went from strength to strength post that knock.

“He (Dhoni) got the opportunity to bat at No.3 in Vizag, scored a superb hundred and whenever he has got a chance to play more overs, he has scored big,” says Sourav Ganguly.

#thisdaythatyear in 2005.MS Dhoni scored 1st Intl 100 vs Pakistan.148 runs in 123 balls in Visakhapatnam.#Dhoni pic.twitter.com/j2XmpOffUx

— TEAM MS DHONI #Dhoni (@imDhoni_fc) April 5, 2020

Sourav Ganguly uses Sachin Tendulkar's example to explain MS Dhoni's case

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly also pointed out that Sachin Tendulkar may not have scaled as many peaks as a cricketer had the latter continued batting down the order.

Sachin Tendulkar had batted in the middle order for India in ODIs for the first five years of his career and opened for the first time in 1994 against New Zealand.

“Tendulkar wouldn’t have become Tendulkar if he kept batting at No.6 because you get a handful of balls to play," Sourav Ganguly elaborated.

The former Indian captain once again aired his disappointment that MS Dhoni did not bat higher up the order as frequently as he should have.

MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15th via an Instagram post. The wicket-keeper played his last game for India at the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand at Old Trafford in Manchester.

However, MS Dhoni will be seen in action for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, which is scheduled to start from 19th September.