Stephen Fleming backs MS Dhoni for 2019 ODI World Cup; says 'his strength is immeasurable'

The year 2018 hasn’t been great for former India skipper MS Dhoni. After struggling with his batting form, he was later omitted from India’s T20 squads for Windies and Australia series.

Dhoni’s exclusion from the shortest format led to speculation that he might also miss out on the flight to England for the 2019 World Cup. But former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming is confident that Dhoni will soon come good for Team India.

Fleming, who worked with Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL, batted for Dhoni to be part of India’s team at 2019 World Cup.

“I think India have enough options within their squad to include Dhoni because his strength is immeasurable. Watching him in the last IPL, his batting was as good as it has been,” Fleming told Gulf news.

“He needs to have the confidence to go and play like that in the One Day Internationals and I think the big stage is something he is looking forward to,” the former CSK opener added.

Dhoni experienced a highly successful IPL in 2018 with the bat as he led returning CSK side to their third title. In 16 matches, the 37-year-old scored 455 runs with a strike rate of 150.66. However, the veteran has struggled to replicate the IPL success at the international level this year.

In 20 ODIs this year, Dhoni has only only got 275 runs at an average of 25. The grimmest fact of all has been his disappointing strike rate of 71.42.