Sandeep Patil believes that MS Dhoni is not retiring anytime soon

The topic of MS Dhoni’s retirement has been doing the rounds on social media since quite a long time now. Dhoni has received a lot of criticism for his performance with the bat in the recently concluded England series and many cricket pundits have been debating about his selection for the ODI World Cup in 2019 as questions have been raised about ‘Dhoni – The Finisher’ in the limited overs format.

However, former Indian selector Sandeep Patil is confident that MS Dhoni isn’t retiring soon and believes that he should be the first choice keeper for the World Cup.

“I have known him very closely for the last 14 years and I am privileged to have seen him when he was just starting his career. I have worked with him as an India A coach and as a chief selector, and he happens to be a very dear friend of mine now,” said Sandeep Patil in his column in the Quint.

“I can assure all his fans that he is not retiring as of now,” he added.

Dinesh Karthik has been consistently performing well with the bat and could fulfill the role behind the stumps as well if needed. Apart from him, the wicket-keeper from Delhi, Rishabh Pant has been highly impressive of late and is being looked in as Dhoni’s alternative in the limited over format. However, Sandeep Patil feels Dhoni should be the first-choice wicket keeper for the World Cup.

“Many people may not agree with me but I will still pick Dhoni as the first choice wicket-keeper for the World Cup next year. The reason simply is that in the shorter format of the game, Dhoni’s ability behind the stumps is of far more importance than his match-finishing skills.

“Dhoni has been above par behind the stumps for India for many years and he will try to do the same till he hangs his gloves,” Patil added.

In the column, Sandeep Patil also requested the fans and the media to let Dhoni, and the team management do their job as they are trying to do their best to win every match for the nation.