mobile app bar

Gambhir criticizes Dhoni and Dhawan for skipping domestic cricket

Dixit Bhargav
Published

Gambhir criticizes Dhoni and Dhawan

Gambhir criticizes Dhoni and Dhawan: Former Indian cricketer was unhappy with the duo skipping domestic cricket.

Between the ODI series against West Indies at home and Australia in Australia, Indian ODI specialists didn’t have much cricket to play. While some of them played the T20I series against West Indies and Australia, the others rested ahead of the series in Australia.

It was at this time when former Indian cricketers in Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath lashed out at the senior duo of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan for skipping the Ranji Trophy.

Middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu retiring from First-class cricket to concentrate on his limited-overs future was also seen missing the most prestigious domestic tournament.

Speaking during an interaction for ESPNcricinfo, former India opening batsman Gautam Gambhhir didn’t seem too happy with the senior players’ decision to ignore domestic cricket. Gambhir opined that the selectors should have ‘pushed’ the players to play First-class cricket.

“I was a little disappointed because some of the guys should have played first-class cricket. The selectors should have pushed them to play first-class cricket. Because it’s a World Cup year, you’ve got to be in prime form.

“Whether it was MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, all those guys who went to Australia,” Gambhir was quoted as saying.

While Dhoni looked out-of-sorts in the first match at Sydney, he ended being the ‘Man of the Series’ in the series, finishing the second and third match for India at Adelaide and Melbourne respectively.

Having said that, the other two batsmen didn’t look at their best throughout the series. While Dhawan scored 55 runs in three matches at an average of 18.33 and strike rate of 73.33, Rayudu was dropped after the second match for returning with 0 and 24 in Sydney and Adelaide respectively.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

x-iconfacebook-iconinstagram-iconlinkedin-icon

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Share this article