Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the players who earned more honors, or garnered more laurels for Indian team has been playing for Team India since 12 years. Started off with the world cup in T20 Internationals, he led India in winning several other crucial trophies all the way which was usually unexpected and never earned before.
Once again after a while, the discussion on Dhoni’s retirement has come out after India lost the T20 match to New Zealand yesterday. At that point of the match when Dhoni is on strike, India needed more than 10-12 runs an over, the former captain struggled to get going and thereby put pressure on his partner, who was looking good for a three-figure score.
It was pretty clear that Kohli seemed to have felt the pressure as he played an uncharacteristic shot and got dismissed for 65 in the 17th over. Though Dhoni hit a few big ones towards the end, they were never going to take India past the line as the required run rate had shot up beyond India’s grasp.
After all, now that, it is pretty clear that Dhoni is not playing as he did before. There are certain comments on taking him down, which were clearly on screen with the slip in his striking position. Considering the poor form of the 36-year-old Dhoni former Indian players VVS Laxman, Ajit Agarkar and Akash Chopra have opined their ideas on his retirement.
Post the match, legendary batsman VVS Laxman said, “In T20s, MS Dhoni’s role is at No 4. He requires more time to get his eye in and then do the job. But today [Saturday] was a classic example because when Virat Kohli was batting, Dhoni had to give the strike to Kohli. Kohli’s strike rate was 160, MS Dhoni’s strike rate was 80. That’s not good enough when India was chasing a mammoth total.”
He added: “I still feel it’s time for MS Dhoni to give youngsters a chance in T20 format. It will be an opportunity for a youngster to blossom and get confidence playing international cricket. He is definitely an integral part of ODI cricket.”
Following the huge criticism laid on MS Dhoni, it is death over specialist Bhuvaneshwar who became the first to back the former captain cool. While conveying this, he has taken a sly dig on both for criticising MS Dhoni.
“We (as a team) don’t think much about that. You look over his records, he is a legend and whatever has he done, he did it for the country. So no one in the team has any doubt about him,” he said.
On the other hand, when asked about his pretty better form in recent days, he said, “Batting is a department I’ve always been confident about. Especially in Tests and have always tried to improve in ODIs. You always need an inning to bat and gain confidence. Like I batted against Sri Lanka, that inning helped me gaining confidence and our batting coach Sanjay Bangar also helped me a lot.”
Next, to him, another prominent player, the veteran hitman Virender Sehwag has come to Dhoni’s rescue. Backing Dhoni, he said, “Team India needs MS Dhoni at the moment, even in T20 cricket. He will step down at the right time. He will never block the way for any young cricketer.”
Veeru included that the Indian team was “yet to find a suitable replacement” for Dhoni. He even gave a small advice for Dhoni, said, “Dhoni should realize his role in the team. He has to change the momentum early while chasing a strong total. He has to score from ball one and the team management should make him understand this point”.
“The team management needs to tell him that he has to play free from the first ball. The management should assure him that even if he gets out, he should keep on playing attacking cricket,” concluded the two-time triple-ton hitter.