Former India captain Sourav Ganguly's decision to send MS Dhoni to bat at number 3 against Pakistan at Vizag ODI in 2005 turned out to be fruitful for Indian cricket. The current BCCI president said the promotion for Dhoni in the batting order came as he knew was already aware of his hitting ability.

Dhoni had failed in the initial few matches of his international career and was needed to perform desperately. He didn't disappoint his captain after being sent at number 3 and scored a magnificent 148 which changed his career.

Ganguly feels it was important for Dhoni to bat up in the order as even Sachin Tendulkar wouldn't have achieved much batting at number 6.

“He (Dhoni) got the opportunity to bat at No.3 in Vizag, scored a superb hundred and whenever he has got a chance to play more overs, he has scored big. Tendulkar wouldn’t have become Tendulkar if he kept batting at No.6 because you get a handful of balls to play,” Ganguly told Sports Tak.

“There was Challenger Trophy, he was scored a hundred for my team while opening the batting, so I knew it,” he added.

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Ganguly said the youngsters should be set free to express themselves and play with full potential early in the career. 

“A player is made when you send him up the order, you can’t make a player by playing him lower down the order. I always believe you can’t become a big cricketer by sitting inside the dressing room. The Kind of abilities, especially the six-hitting prowess he had, was rare. He changed himself towards the end of his career but when the raw MS Dhoni arrived, it was very important to make him free,” Ganguly said.

But as the career progressed, Dhoni took the responsibility of batting down the order which Ganguly didn't like much. “When I had retired, I aired my views many times, that Dhoni should bat higher up the order,” Ganguly said.

Dhoni made a name for himself as one of the finest finishers in limited-overs cricket. He played lower down the order till his last game for India.

(With Sports Tak Inputs)