The Indian skipper is the in-form batsman for the team. While the rest of the batsmen found it hard to scores runs fluently against Pakistan in the recently concluded series, Dhoni was an exception as he won two Man of the Match awards in three matches.

While half of his team was back to pavilion in the first ODI against Pakistan, Dhoni stitched two crucial partnerships with Suresh Raina and R Ashwin and went on to score his eighth ton in ODIs. He was also the highest scorer for the side in the next two matches –54* and 36 and was given the Man of the Match for leading his side to a thrilling victory in the last ODI.

The 31-year old is under-fire for his captaincy in Test matches, but he is India’s best batsmen in limited overs cricket at the moment, as players like Virat Kohli are struggling to find their form in the New Year. The result of the series will depend a lot on how Dhoni performs with the bat.