On a day full of utter humiliation from the Lankan side, MS Dhoni, the former Indian captain, showed how his presence can be proven dangerous for any team in the world. When all of the Indian batsmen suffered on the pitch, Dhoni came forward to show the Indian fans a ray of hope.

His innings of 65 off 87 gave them a slightly better ground to stand on. Had he not played that marvelous innings, Indian team’s score-line would hover somewhere around the lowest ODI totals.

Sourav Ganguly, the President of Cricket Association of Bengal, was very impressed by Dhoni’s display of batting. And why not?!  A batsman with an average of 51.78, even after playing 310 ODIs, is someone any team would dream to have.

"It was a terrific innings from MS Dhoni."

"He hit when he needed and rotated the strike when needed and that is why Virat Kohli persists with MS Dhoni in 50-over cricket," Ganguly told the India Today network.

"I feel it's a one-off. India went in with young players in Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey. This is a lesson for India to learn from here," Ganguly said.

The former Indian skipper thinks the decision, of adding KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane back to the squad, is a good one. "The likes of Rahane and Rahul must play consistently in ODI cricket. Yes, Iyer will be a good player down the line – even Pandey – but at the moment, they have been found wanting,"

"I hope Rahane is back because he is quality. In the last few series he has been among runs consistently. I was surprised that he was left out. You cannot compare Test form with one-day form. He needs to be there in the team especially when Virat Kohli is not there," he said.

With these two players in the squad, the Indian team are supposed to put up a good fight against Sri Lanka in the next two ODIs of the series in Mohali and Vishakhapatnam.