‘It’s very, very tough’: Why Sangakkara prefers Dhoni over Ganguly as a batsman in ODIs

Sangakkara’s pick is sure to surprise a few especially given the batting records of the two former India captains. The former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper preferred Dhoni despite Ganguly being 590 runs ahead in ODIs

Former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara has chosen MS Dhoni ahead of Sourav Ganguly as his pick for the better ODI batsman among the two. Dhoni and Ganguly, two of India’s finest captains have led the country to numerous triumphs but Sangakkara, who has played against both, went with Dhoni purely for his ability to finish matches for the team.

“In one-day cricket, the ability to finish, is always to me, very, very tough. So, I would go with MS for sure in limited overs cricket, in white-ball cricket just because he batted at that tougher finisher position, but in Test cricket, without a doubt, Ganguly every day,” Sangakkara said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports during the special ‘Ganguly vs Dhoni survey’ segment.

Sangakkara’s pick is sure to surprise a few especially given the batting records of the two former India captains. The former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper preferred Dhoni despite Ganguly being 590 runs ahead in ODIs. Ganguly has 11363 ODI runs from 311 ODIs, while Dhoni has scored 10773 runs from 350 games. However, it does not take away from Sangakkara’s admiration towards Ganguly, who he believes paved the way for Dhoni to take Indian cricket forward.

“You can be judged on a lot of things but sometimes you have to leave something behind and I think in that sense, Dada did a lot to create a wonderful legacy for others to inherit and MS benefitted from that,” Sangakkara said. “MS, exceptional player, unbelievable captain, again, has moved Indian cricket forward. But the foundation for all of that was laid by Dada for me.”