India Vs Australia: Virat Kohli Responsible For What We Are Seeing Of MS Dhoni, Says Sourav Ganguly

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's resurgence with the bat has been the biggest positive for the Indian cricket team of late. While the former India captain remained the country's best wicketkeeper, his utility with the bat was under the scanner. All that changed after Dhoni played two match-winning knocks against Sri Lanka and followed it up with a 79-run innings against Australia with the team in trouble. Dhoni's place in the side was questioned after a poor show in the West Indies. At the time, skipper Virat Kohli had stood firmly behind his predecessor. Head coach Ravi Shastri echoed a similar sentiment few days later when he said Dhoni still had plenty to offer to Indian cricket. After Dhoni's latest knock, former India captain Sourav Ganguly applauded Kohli for showing faith in him.

"When players play for so long, MS has played over 300 ODIs for India, they know how to get runs. More than 9000 runs for Dhoni in one-day cricket and he'll get a few more by the time he finishes," Ganguly told India Today.

"It's the captain's confidence and Virat should get a lot of credit for it because he's put a lot of faith in Dhoni and that allowed MS to play the way he wanted. Players are made and players are broken by the faith you show in them. And I think Virat Kohli is responsible for what we are seeing of MS Dhoni today," he added.

Dhoni will look to continue from where he left in Chennai as the two team play the 2nd ODI in Kolkata.

However, the September 21 match faces weather concerns as the ground has been under covers for the last two days due to heavy rainfall. Both teams got their training sessions cancelled due to persistent rain and are waiting for the weather to clear.

The Australian team, on September 19, trained indoors while the Indian team abandoned its practice session. The series-opener in Chennai was a truncated affair due to rain and the second ODI could also be hit by poor weather.

India are leading the five-match ODI series 1-0 after a 26-run win over the world champions.