Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has jumped to the defense of MS Dhoni following criticism surrounding the veteran batsman’s strike rate at ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Sourav Ganguly said he would wait before making any statement on MS Dhoni’s strike rate and talked up the experience of the World Cup-winning India star.

Dhoni has been criticised for his not-so-impressive strike rate in World Cup 2019. The wicketkeeper-batsman hit a 28-ball 52 and put pressure on the rest of the Indian batsmen in India’s close win over Afghanistan on Saturday. Against the West Indies on Thursday, Dhoni began slow but made sure he accelerated towards the end to finish with 56 from 61 balls.

“It’s a one-off and I won’t look too much into it. Yes, MS Dhoni has been in the situation in the past, last year when he came to England, we saw the same struggle with spin,” Ganguly told Star Sports.

“He (Dhoni) needs someone to play with him, and if he bats with Virat Kohli at three, K L Rahul at 4 and he is at 5, or with the likes of Hardik Pandya, life becomes a lot easier for him because they keep hitting and he keeps rotating the strike,” Ganguly added.

“I would like to wait before passing a statement on how well he has played, especially his strike rate, because he has the ability to hit the boundaries and play differently. So, let’s not get into MS Dhoni so quickly in this competition yet, because his experience, the quality and the ability he has, he will definitely succeed,” Ganguly said.

Speaking to India Today, Sachin Tendulkar had questioned MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav’s intent during their slow stand vs Afghanistan.

However, India captain Virat Kohli backed MS Dhoni, saying that people tend to start talking whenever the former captain has a bad day on the field. Kohli maintained that Dhoni is a legend and that he is peerless when it comes to understanding the game situation.

“When he (MS Dhoni) has an off day here and there, everyone starts talking. We always back him. He has won us so many games,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Virat Kohli said MS Dhoni’s experience helps the Indian team in the middle and explained how he gets the extra crucial runs the side needs.

“The best thing about having someone like him is when you need those 15-20 runs, he knows exactly how to get them. His experience, 8 out of 10 times has come good for us. We have quite a few players who play instinctive cricket and follow their game plans.