Report: Dhoni was denied captaincy during India-Afghanistan match

Dhoni was denied captaincy during India-Afghanistan match: Reports claim that a BCCI administrator was against the decision.

During the fifth Super Four match of the Asia Cup played between India and Afghanistan earlier this year at Dubai, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had come out of retirement as a captain to lead the team in the absence of leading players.

While the sight of Dhoni captaining India for the 200th time in ODIs went down as a fond memory for his fans, it is reportedly believed that a top BCCI administrator was against the decision, wanting the next senior player in the side to take responsibility.

While regular captain Virat Kohli was rested for the tournament, stand-in captain Rohit Sharma and his deputy Shikhar Dhawan were rested for the match for it was believed to be a dead-rubber. In a bid to try out a few combinations, rookie players were given a go under the well-experienced eyes of Dhoni.

“In the match against Afghanistan, Rohit Sharma rested himself and the Indian team management decided to hand over the captaincy to MS Dhoni because of his seniority and also as a special gesture. A senior BCCI administrator, however, kept insisting that appointing MS would’ve been a regressive step and said the next senior most cricketer should lead the side,” a source closed to BCCI quoted as saying to Times of India.

Post Mithali Raj getting dropped from India’s playing eleven for the all-important semi-final of the recently concluded ICC Women’s World T20 and the controversy which has followed it, there have been apprehensions regarding the BCCI officials having a say in such vital team decisions.

“So, all this talk about outsiders not interfering is absolute nonsense. The administrator refused to give MS the captaincy which was very weird given his experience,” the source added.

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