The MSD conundrum! Gautam Gambhir raises serious questions over MS Dhoni's form

Mumbai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni has come under heavy criticism lately mainly due to his poor batting form. Despite Team India emphatically winning the opener against England in the ODI series, the visitors were outplayed by Eoin Morgan and team to lose the series by 2-1.

With the Men in Blue’s middle order frailties laid bare, critics were quick to point out at the former India skipper’s role in the team. And now Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir has raised questions over Dhoni’s batting approach, stating others don’t have enough space to breathe when he is at the crease.

“The way MS played in the last innings (2nd ODI) and today as well, there has been a lot of dot balls. The way he is batting at the moment, he is putting pressure on the other batters as well.  He needs to be very much proactive,” Gambhir was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

In both the games he played, Dhoni took time to settle at the crease but failed to get going and that bothers Gambhir.

“I have not seen MS play so many dot balls a couple of years back. There is something which he really needs to work on. Normally MS Dhoni is someone who takes his time. But then he is able to be aggressive in the last ten overs. But that is clearly missing in the last two games,” he added.

Even Sourav Ganguly demanded more from the wicket-keeper batsman.

“If Dhoni has got to play then he has got to get in a position where he keeps hitting. If it is 24-25 overs and he has got to build an innings, he is struggling at the moment. He may turn it around as he has been a great player for India but at the present, he is not turning it around enough and this has been going on for more than a year,” Ganguly said.