Mike Hussey backs under-fire Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Beleaguered Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday found backing from former Australia cricketer Mike Hussey, who said the India captain was the most suitable to lead the team as he still has a lot of fire in his batting.

In yet another poor showing for Dhoni, the India captain scored a duck in the fourth ODI and the side slipped to a 25-run defeat from a strong position.

Dhoni has been facing a lot of flak for not being able perform the role of a finisher for a long time.

“I would back MS to do the job and he has been doing it for so long now. He is best suited to handle most situations out there. People forget that it is not an easy job to do. You cannot just come in and smash 60 off 30 balls every single time. You have got good bowlers, and they have gotten smarter, and they know what Dhoni’s strengths are, so things will not always happen the same way,” Hussey said.

The Australian, known as Mr Cricket, said the young Indian batsmen need to bat around him to learn how to finish close games.

“You cannot expect him to do it every single time, and he has done well for India for such an amazingly long period of time. I would keep backing him to do this job for as long as he feels he can do the job. At the same time, India will be looking at their youngsters. In that situation, it would be ideal if they can bat with and around MS, and learn from him how to get through such situations,” he said.

India have lost four matches in a row in the ongoing series but Hussey said the visitors had not fared badly.

“I think India have actually played some really good cricket. Look at all the four matches so far. They have consistently scored 300 runs every time, which is a very good effort. And Australia is a tough place to defend especially when the pitches are helping batsmen, and rest assured these are very good pitches to bat on. The outfields here are fast and the big grounds also make it tough on visiting teams,” Hussey said.

“But by scoring 300 runs consistently they have given themselves a good chance to beat Australia.

“Unfortunately they have been too good chasing them down earlier in the series, but if India keeps on doing this, they will eventually win,” he said.