You don't need to tell Dhoni how to play: Kohli

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has backed veteran wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni who attracted sharp criticism for his slow innings in the fourth One Day International (ODI) match against the West Indies which India lost by 11 runs.

"He is striking the ball beautifully, you don't need to tell him anything in terms of how to play a situation, how to build an innings," Kohli told reporters on Thursday.

India won the series 3-1, only losing the fourth ODI on Sunday. Dhoni played a failed 114-ball 54-run innings which led to India losing to the West Indies. The Ranchi stumper only managed to hit one boundary.

"You have to figure out what kind of wickets you are playing on as well. I was trying to hit the spinners a couple of days in practice and I couldn't because the wickets were not that great to play strokes, the wicket in the centre was much better," Kohli said.

"You can't really judge a guy's batting form at practice because you don't know what kind of wickets you are going to get," he added.

Kohli also mentioned that it was ideal for Dhoni to play a slow innings keeping in mind that the ball was not coming on the bat.

"If the bounce is not ideal then obviously you have to keep defending the ball and keep rotating strike. I think it was only in the last game he couldn't rotate the strike and before that he got a brilliant 70 or 80-odd not out," Kohli said.

--IANS

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