Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a huge fan-following all around the world. Whenever he comes out to bat, he gets a grand reception and that’s MS Dhoni for you! The player with the best cricketing brain was in the heat of the scrap for his dismal performances of late.
Despite criticism from every snippet of the cricketing fraternity, he is still the most loved and the most admired player. Ahead of the fifth ODI between India and Windies which is to be held tomorrow, the die-hard fans from Kerala showered immense love on the ace cricketer- MSD by placing a 35-feet cut out in front of the Greenfield stadium to welcome him.
MS Dhoni recently hit the headlines for not being named in the T20I squads against the Windies and Australia, which took the Indian cricket fraternity by a shock. He is a regular wicketkeeper-batsman who has the potential to produce game-changing moments.
However, the chief selector MSK Prasad, while talking to the reporters, said that MS Dhoni hasn’t been dropped from the team. Their only intention is to look for the second wicketkeeper-batsman and therefore the former Indian skipper will not be seen spicing it up for the next six T20 Internationals. The veteran plays only ODIs & T20Is these days and his omission from the shorter format surprised many as nobody saw this coming.
“We’re looking at a second ’keeper, so Rishabh Pant is there and DK (Dinesh Karthik) hasn’t done badly either… Both, therefore, are in the T20I squads which we announced late on Friday,” Prasad told The Telegraph which he had previously said in the first presser following the squad announcement.
When asked if MS Dhoni was aware of the decision, Prasad replied, “Oh yes… Yes. I myself spoke to MS and I must say he was most gracious. I explained our need to look at a second ’keeper and MS graciously supported the idea.”
The big decision to drop Dhoni from T20Is gives us a clarity that he won’t probably turn up for the upcoming T20 World Cup. But the selectors are convinced that Dhoni can do a better job in ODIs by nurturing other players. His experience will big an X-factor for the World Cup 2019.
