Indian skipper Virat Kohli heaped praises on former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday after the latter guided Team India to their first bilateral ODI series win against the home team Down Under.

Kohli also claimed that batting at number five was the ideal spot for him and that “no one is more committed to Indian cricket” than the wicket-keeper batsman.

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Dhoni had been earlier heavily criticised by fans for his slow batting in the Sydney match. Some fans even said MS Dhoni was batting like a Test player in an ODI match.

Talking about Dhoni’s contribution to the historic series win in Australia, the 30-year-old Indian captain said he should be allowed breathing space.

“I think firstly as a team we are very happy for Dhoni. That he is amongst the runs because it is very important to get runs under your belt to get that rhythm and get that confidence back. Especially when you have not been playing so much international cricket,” Kohli said at the post-match press conference.

Kohli added, “Many things happen on the outside. People say a lot of things but as an individual, we know that there is no one more committed to Indian cricket than Dhoni and people should let him have his space because he has contributed so much for the nation.”

The Delhi batsman also insisted that Dhoni was “one of the most intelligent cricketers.”

“They should let him figure out things on his own and what he needs to do. He is one of the most intelligent cricketers and he is not someone who is not aware about what needs to be done. As a team we are totally in sync with what he is doing and we are all very happy for him,” Kohli said.

Speaking about Dhoni’s much-talked-about batting position, Kohli said the just-concluded Australia series proved that number five was the most logical spot for the CSK skipper.

“Dhoni batted at number four in 2016 for a while. But after that he has been pretty happy playing at five and six for the team. We felt that number five was the ideal position for him. And if you saw him bat at Adelaide as well he was pretty comfortable in that position because that allows him to do a bit of both – get some game time as well as finish games off, attacking as and when required,” Kohli said.