Speculations are intense over MS Dhoni’s retirement from International Cricket ever since India’s heartbreaking exit from the World Cup. MS Dhoni has been on the receiving end of criticism.
Amidst the speculations on Dhoni’s future with cricket, on Sunday, the selection panel will meet to pick squads for the upcoming West Indies tour.
Talking about the same, former Indian cricketer, Gautam Gambhir made some strong points. He said it’s time to keep the emotions aside. He said:
“It’s important to look into the future. And when Dhoni was the skipper, he invested in the future. I remember Dhoni saying in Australia that me, Sachin and Sehwag can’t play the CB series together as the grounds were big,”
He added:
“He wished for young players for the World Cup. It’s necessary to take practical decisions than being emotional. And it’s time to groom youngsters. Be it Rishab Pant, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan or any other wicketkeeper, whoever is believed to have the potential should be made the wicket-keeper,”
Gautam Gambhir said unless the young players are given the chances, they won’t be able to deliver for the country. He said:
“Give him chances for one and half-years and if he doesn’t perform, then others should be tried out as well. Then one would get to know who the keeper for the next World Cup is,”
Gautam Gambhir also talked about MS Dhoni’s captaincy. Though he hailed him as the best captain but he pointed out that it’s unfair to give him all the credits. Taking a dig at MS Dhoni, he said:
“If you see the statistics, then he (Dhoni) is the best captain. But that doesn’t mean that other captains have done badly. Sourav Ganguly has done good captaincy; we have won outside under him. Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, we have won ODI series in South Africa and Test series in Australia,”
He added:
“It is true that MS Dhoni has won us two World Cups (2007 and 2011) but it is not fair to give all credit to the captain for success and criticize only him when it doesn’t go your way.
Dhoni has won the Champions Trophy and World Cups but other captains have also taken India forward. Captains like Anil Kumble have done the job though not for long; Rahul Dravid also led India to win in England.”
