Former India skipper MS Dhoni, who last played for the national side in the semis of the World Cup this year against New Zealand, has left a lot of unanswered questions over his future in the game. Since then, the Men in Blue have played limited-overs series’ against South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh and now gear up to face the Caribbean at home from next month. Dhoni has not been named in the 3-match T20I or the 3-match ODI series against the West Indies.
Head coach Ravi Shastri, one of Dhoni’s biggest supporters, has now come forward and said that the team would like to wait till the Indian Premier League to see how the Chennai Super Kings captain fares.
India have relied on Rishabh Pant in T20Is recently, but the youngster has been unable to perform as per expectations with both bat and gloves. Sanju Samson was called up for the series against Bangladesh but has been dropped for the matches against West Indies without getting a game.
Shastri said that the Indian management wants to see how the other wicket-keeping options fare and would then gauge where Dhoni stood in the scheme of things ahead of the T20 World Cup next year.
“It all depends on when he starts playing and how he is playing during the IPL. What are the other people doing with the wicket-keeping gloves or what is the form of those players as opposed to MS Dhoni’s form. The IPL becomes a massive tournament because that could be the last tournament after which more or less your 15 is decided,” Shastri told IANS.
“There might be one player who might be there and thereabouts in case of an injury or whatever. But your team I would say would be known after the IPL. What I would say is rather than speculating of who is where, wait for the IPL to get over and then you are in a position to take a call on who are the best 17 in the country,” he said.
Dhoni was in the line of fire in the World Cup this year due to his slow strike rate and his decision to not go after the target against England in a league game. The former Indian skipper last turned out against New Zealand in a heartbreaking semi-final loss, following which he took a break from cricket to serve in the army. He has not played for India since then.
