No is more committed to Indian cricket” than Mahendra Singh Dhoni and batting at number five is the ideal spot for him, said Virat Kohli in stout defence of the former captain.

Dhoni faced criticism for slow batting in the ODI series-opener in Sydney before redeeming his pride and reputation with match-winning contributions in the Adelaide and Melbourne ODIs.”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,” said the India captain at the post-match press conference.

“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.

“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 of 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,” said Kohli.

“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 the 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.

Dhoni played a crucial role in India winning the decisive third ODI with his unbeaten 87-run knock on Friday and at Adelaide too, his unbeaten half-century had scripted India’s win.