Mahendra Singh Dhoni is arguably one of the most iconic Indian cricketers of his generation. Whether it's the World Cup, Champions Trophy or the World T20, the former Indian captain has achieved almost everything there is in international cricket.

However, ever since the rise of Virat Kohli, Dhoni has taken a back seat paving the way for the Delhi lad. After renouncing his captaincy from limited-overs cricket, the Jharkhand cricketer was expected to focus on his batting. 

But, despite being freed from the burden of leading a side, Dhoni has struggled to produce a fine showing with the willow. And, that's what Sourav Ganguly has rightly pointed out.

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The former Indian cricketer raised some serious concerns about Dhoni's batting in the shortest version of the game. He said that Dhoni is a "champion ODI player" but doubted if he is still that good in the T20 format.

"I am not too sure if MS Dhoni is a good T20 player. He is a champion ODI player but when it comes to Twenty20 cricket, in 10 years, he has got one fifty and that's not the best record," Ganguly said.

Ganguly's scathing comments came at a time when Dhoni has consistently struggled to score runs in the shortest format.

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Relieved of the captaincy duties, Dhoni is playing for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) for the first time as a player in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with little success in batting.

The 35-year-old has managed to score 28 runs (12*, 5, 11) in the three games he has played for Pune in the IPL 2017 so far. And, it is pretty clear that Dhoni has failed to live up to the expectations of his fans.

While pointing out Dhoni's poor run in T20s, Ganguly also said that the 2011 World Cup-winning captain is too good an ODI player to be ignored from India's Champions Trophy squad. "I will pick Dhoni for the Champions Trophy but he has to score runs," Ganguly said.

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Apart from Dada, Michael Clarke also felt that it is high time for Dhoni to explode with the bat. "Dhoni has to score runs for himself. As a professional, he has to," Clarke said.

Given his recent form, Dhoni surely looks like a shadow of the batsman who once single-handedly won the games for his side. But, doubting Dhoni's credentials on a mere three games is unfair for a player of Dhoni's calibre.

For the sake of Pune and, more importantly, to the sheer joy of the Indian fans, let's hope that our 'Captain Cool' overcomes these testing times and proves his detractors wrong with some scintillating knocks in the games to come.