BCCI’s selection committee, led by MSK Prasad, on Friday, announced the T20I squad for the Australia and West Indies series and the big highlight of the announcement was the exclusion of Mahendra Singh Dhoni from both the contests. And before retirement talks could brew up over the night keeping the Indian cricket followers anxiously waiting, chief Indian selector, MSK Prasad explained the reason behind ‘resting’ Dhoni.
For the T20Is, a 16-member squad for Windies home series and the 15-member for the Australia series later in November was announced in Pune, where India will be playing the third ODI match against Jason Holder’s men. While Dhoni’s name was missing, Rishabh Pant was announced as the wicketkeeper for both the series. Dinesh Karthik too found his name on both the rosters.
“Not yet,” started off Prasad after questions on his T20I retirement were thrown moments after the squad was announced in Pune. “We want to try out other keepers for the second keeper’s slot,” he explained.
Dhoni has played only seven T20I matches in 2018 and India’s next limited-overs series will be in January against Australia. In between, Dhoni has no option left to hone his batting skills in ODI format given Vijay Hazare Trophy is over and Deodhar Trophy has entered its final stage. The problem definitely doesn’t lie in his wicketkeeping skills – he has been better than ever with his job behind the stumps. But has failed to perform with the bat since his slump in form Champions Trophy 2017. This year, in ODIs, he averages 27.22 from 11 innings and in T20Is, it stands 41 from five matches.
Barring the selectors’ decision to play Pant and Karthik in finding secondary options fo Dhoni, the decision to rest the veteran can also be implied as a process to fade him out from the shortest format of the game.
While Karthik has been able to get the best out of himself in the shortest format, Pant’s potential and attacking prowess aren’t hidden from anyone. With this being the first instance of Mahi facing the axe from the Indian team, the question arises whether it is the start of the end of Mahendra Singh Dhoni?
