‘MS Dhoni Is Just Class,’ Says Rohit Sharma Post Cuttack T20 Win

India beat Sri Lanka by 93 runs in Cuttack T20.

MS Dhoni with Yuzvendra Chahal of India and Rohit Sharma Captain of India during the first International T20 match (T20i) held at the the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack between India and Sri Lanka on the 20th December 2017 

(Photo: BCCI)

India captain Rohit Sharma said the team management's decision to promote veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the number four position in the batting order, paid off as he is the "ideal" man for the slot.

For the Cuttack T20, India promoted Dhoni up the order and the former skipper responded by making an unbeaten 39 off just 22 balls.

MSD (Dhoni), he’s just class. No. 4 really paid off. He’s played so many games for us, won so many games for us and moving forward, we feel making him bat at No. 4 is ideal. For a long period of time, MS has been finishing games off, but we want him to bat freely now, without that pressure.We were not sure what the ideal score would be, with dew and the wicket playing weirdly. So I thought 180 was a great effort.

Rohit Sharma, Captain - India

Rohit Sharma also complimented KL Rahul, who struck a classy 61 at the top and also Manish Pandey (32*) for giving Dhoni company in the middle. Their partnership powered India to 180/3 in 20 overs, a score which they defended by 93 runs.

It was a great move, for KL (Rahul) to start at the top. He was not part of the ODI squad, but he came here and showed he belonged. He batted magnificently. And great finish to the innings by MS (Dhoni) and Pandey. Pandey hasn’t had much game time in the middle, so to come out and bat like that is good.

Rohit Sharma, Captain - India

Rohit Sharma has a quick chat with Yuzvendra Chahal during Sri Lanka’s innings in Cuttack.

Rohit also praised his bowlers, especially Yuzvendra Chahal for his man-of-the-match winning 4/23 effort.

Chahal and Kuldeep (Yadav) have always been our wicket- taking options in the middle. They understand what the team expects and they come out and deliver. No words can describe how good they have been for us. The fast bowlers as well, Jaydev (Unadkat) playing his first game after a long time, taking an early wicket.(Jasprit) Bumrah and (Hardik) Pandya keeping things tight. Conditions weren’t easy and they did very very well.

Rohit Sharma, Captain - India

Sri Lanka skipper Thisara Perera said batsmen let the team down in their pursuit of the big score.

In these conditions, we wanted to bowl first, but India batted really well. And we have to give their bowlers credit, two spinners bowling really well in dewy conditions. We could have had a shot at 160-170 here. But I think, 180, in these conditions, we could have chased if we had got a good start. But our batting line-up didn’t click. Really disappointed.

Thisara Perera, Captain - Sri Lanka