Cricketing legendary Kapil Dev is not happy about Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s return to the IPL. He says that the league is for the future stars of the game, further saying that the IPL is not enough to cement Dhoni’s place in the ICC T20 World Cup if that is what the latter is aiming for.
38-year-old Dhoni, who is also the captain of Chennai Super Kings, has not played international cricket since the World Cup last year. He was also dropped from the BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players in January.
Dev said, “It’s not just Dhoni who is playing the IPL. I am a person who look for a young player who we can be proud of in the next 10 years. I think Dhoni has already done so much for the country.”
“As his fan, yes (would like to see him playing the T20 World Cup) but as a cricketer, I think it all depends on the management. He hasn’t played for one year. He should play more matches to be on the team. There shouldn’t be different parameters for different players.”
“He is on his last leg. I am his fan so I would love to see him but in IPL I am looking for the next generation.”
Dhoni is expected to start playing and practising for the CSK team from March 1 as he gears up for a final push. Earlier, coach Ravi Shastri had stated that Dhoni’s performance in the T20 league will determine if the Ranchi cricketer can play for India in the T20 World Cup.
In his absence, Rishabh Pant has been unable to step up, and has since then, lost his place in the side as the frontline wicket-keeper of the team. KL Rahul has taken over the reins with the gloves, but India still seems to be lacking a power hitter lower down the order. The management expects Dhoni to fill in that role.
Kapil also sent praises and compliments to the Indian cricket team for making it to the semifinals of the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia. He said that women now have more opportunities to play sports and make a career out of the game, as compared to over a decade ago.
“They (Indian cricket team) are playing well. The age has come up where we start looking at the women’s performance also.”
Dev further said,
“I would like to give a lot of respect to the BCCI for giving the opportunity to girls and all the facilities which the girls require. Our girls are handled much better now than 15 years back.”
The Indian Women’s team reached the semis of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2018 as well but had crashed out after losing to England in the semis. The Indian Eves have a game to go in the league stage, against Sri Lanka Women, before they will play their semis encounter.
