MS Dhoni should bat at No. 4 after Virat Kohli, says Virender Sehwag | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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MS Dhoni should bat at No. 4 after Virat Kohli, says Virender Sehwag

Hindustan Times, Mumbai | ByHT Correspondent
Feb 18, 2018 07:04 PM IST

Virender Sehwag believes lack of ‘finishers’ in the Indian cricket team is forcing Virat Kohli to keep MS Dhoni down in the batting order.

Virender Sehwag believes Indian cricket team’s middle-order is still work in progress, and captain Virat Kohli should bring MS Dhoni back on No 4 in order to strengthen it.

Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli should send MS Dhoni up the order and hand the finisher’s role to Manish Pandey or Hardik Pandya or Kedar Jadhav, believes VIrender Sehwag.(Getty Images)
Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli should send MS Dhoni up the order and hand the finisher’s role to Manish Pandey or Hardik Pandya or Kedar Jadhav, believes VIrender Sehwag.(Getty Images)

Sehwag has also called for nurturing a few other players such as Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya or even Kedar Jadhav for the role of ‘finishers’.

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“I believe, there’s still a scope of improvement in India’s middle-order batting line-up. MS Dhoni should play up the order,” Sehwag told India TV.

He added: “I think, Kohli fears that if Dhoni comes at No 4 and loses his wicket early then there won’t be anyone on the finishing spot. But Kohli should send him up the order and hand the finisher’s role to Manish Pandey or Hardik Pandya or Kedar Jadhav.”

Sehwag’s deduction comes after India’s dominant show in the six-match ODI series vs South Africa cricket team, where the top-order’s stupendous saw them through.

While Kohli went on to smack a world record 558 runs at an average of 186 with three centuries and one half-century, Shikhar Dhawan scored 323 runs, and Rohit Sharma managed to break his South African jinx by scoring a match-winning century at Port Elizabeth in the penultimate ODI.

Sehwag, meanwhile, also warned the Indian cricket team of a possible South African backlash post the humiliation in the ODI series.

“Having suffered a defeat in ODIs, South Africa will look to perform better when they take on India in the first T20I,” Sehwag said.

Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat, veteran Suresh Raina and KL Rahul have joined the Indian team for the T20I series, which will conclude on February 24.

“Rahul can come in place of (Ajinkya) Rahane as he’s a better striker than the Mumbai batsman as far as T20Is are concerned,” Sehwag said.

The former opening batsman warned India that the form of their wrist spinners will be crucial for India. “If they (Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal) concede a lot of runs and fail to get wickets, India will lose the T20I series,” he said.

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