India head coach Ravi Shastri recently made a bold statement about MS Dhoni’s career and said that the former captain might hang his boots from the one-day format and focus thoroughly on the T20Is.
Moreover, if the pundits are to be believed, Dhoni’s contention for the World T20 this year is purely based on his performance in the Indian Premier League. But looking at the current setup, here are the three reasons why the Indian team doesn’t really need Dhoni for the World T20.
Wicket-keeping options
The experiment of asking KL Rahul at the highest level has brought much luck for Virat Kohli and Co. While Rahul has been pretty good with his glovework behind the stumps so far, he is also letting the team have an extra bowler or an all-rounder in the XI.
Apart from Rahul, India have Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson for the same slot. While Pant has been given a number of chances where the aggressive batsman has failed miserably, Samson still needs some luck and favour to get himself a place in the XI.
The Indian team’s setup already has three front-line wicket-keepers along with Kedar Jadhav who has kept wickets at the domestic level.
Experienced campaigners
MS Dhoni’s experience about the game is unmatched but team management can’t retain a player in the squad only on this bases. Dhoni might be the most experienced, players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar too have played a number of games for the side at the international level.
These players have single-handedly won matches for India in the absence of Dhoni and even under his reign and know how to handle the pressure at such level.
Team balance
MS Dhoni generally bats at number 6 or 7 or sometimes at 5. But for now these slots are pretty occupied. In the absence of Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube has got the job of striking the ball hard while Manish Pandey is responsible for maintaining the balance in the middle-order.
If Shikhar Dhawan comes back in the side and opens the innings, the Kohli or Rahul might bat at number 5 while two out of Pandey, Pandya and Dube might come in at 6 and 7 respectively.
With the vacancies for wicket-keeper batsmen already full, it seems hard for Dhoni to make a return back to the side.
