reason behind MS Dhoni’s comeback: The Chief Selector of the Indian team was vocal about MS Dhoni’s comeback in the T20I squad.
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The news of former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni facing the axe from the T20I squad had received a lot of furore on social media platform Twitter a couple of months ago.
With Dhoni named in the Indian squad for the T20I series against New Zealand in February next year, there was a sense of relief among the 37-year old cricketer’s plentiful fans.
Dhoni being called back against cleared the air regarding him being rested and not dropped. The same happened due to a reason which has possible been served now.
Speaking to the media from the MCG, India Chief Selector MSK Prasad was vocal about Dhoni’s inclusion in the side for the T20I series. Prasad disclosed that Dhoni was rested in a bid to give more opportunities to the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant.
“With regard to MS [Dhoni], even while resting him, we correctly told that he is going to rest for those six matches [against West Indies and Australia] so that we can give more matches to Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant. That is the very reason and now they’ve played quite a few matches so we thought we have to bring back MS into the squad,” Prasad was quoted as saying.
He also confirmed that the current ODI team is almost certain to be continued till and during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 barring a change here or there, if required. “Coming close to the World Cup, we are only left with 13 ODIs. So, it’s more or less a core team. We’ve zeroed it down to 20 members. Only those 20 members will be figuring from now on,” he said.
During the ODI series against West Indies and T20I series against Australia, the 21-year old wicket-keeper batsman Pant was given the chance to press his case for a longer stint in the ODI team. In the three ODIs which he played, Pant batted in two of them, scoring 41 runs at an average of 20.50 and a strike rate of 132.25.
In the two T20Is against Australia, Pant scored 20 runs at an average of 10 and a strike rate of 117.64. It is worth mentioning that Pant was sent in to bat in situation and at a batting position where he was expected to do much better but he didn’t. As a result, Karthik, whom Pant had replaced for his audition, has been recalled into the ODI side.
On being asked about Pant making it to the squad for the World Cup next year, Prasad said that he is still in the contention for the same.
“With regard to Rishabh [Pant], with the intensity of this series, we game to keep him fresh by giving him a break. He will have a very good game time of five ODIs against visiting England Lions. He is definitely a part of it [ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 plans],” Prasad concluded.
Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on Dhoni below:
