Kohli terms Dhoni’s knock as ‘classic’

Adelaide, Jan 15 (IANS) Calling it an "MS classic", India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday firmly put his weight behind the under-fire former skipper, saying he will definitely be part of the team going ahead.

Dhoni cracked an unbeaten 55 off 54 balls to guide India to a series-levelling six-wicket victory over Australia in the second ODI.

Kohli had laid the foundation with a fluent 104.

"There is no doubt that he should be a part of this team. Tonight was MS classic. He calculates the game so well. He takes the game till the end, when only he knows what's going on in his mind, and he backs himself to hit those big shots at the end," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

"You look for little moments to pump you up, get into the zone, and that's what I was trying to do. I tried to stay as aware as possible in recognising the moment to strike," he said adding: "I thought those 2-3 overs were the moment, to bring the gap between runs and balls down. When it comes off it looks good. It was a really tough day."

The Indian skipper also praised seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for his crucial blows at the death.

"We wanted to try and restrict them in the end. I thought they were going to get away from us when Maxy (Glenn Maxwell) and Shaun (Marsh) were in. Getting them in two balls was brilliant. I thought 298 was par on that wicket, with the start they had," Kohli expressed.

"Bhuvi was outstanding to pull things back for us. Vijay Shankar is in the squad, he's an all-rounder, so that gives us an option to play around with - but we'll see how we go. But backing five bowlers and seeing it come off is pleasing as a captain," the centurion said.