He was asked to keep playing until the team was confident with Rishabh Pant.
The team for the upcoming India tour of West Indies was recently announced and MS Dhoni was not part of it. Prior to this, Dhoni made himself unavailable for the next two months, citing that he will serve in the parachute regiment he is part of. Because of this, it is still unknown if he will retire from international cricket.
Chief selector MSK Prasad also said that the focus has now shifted to the ICC T20 World Cup in 2020, meaning that Rishabh Pant will most likely take Dhoni’s spot and is, therefore, being prepared for this role. He has already become the first choice keeper in the longer formats of the game; he has been chosen for all three formats of the tour.
However, there are reports that the team management asked MS Dhoni not to retire yet, asking him to mentor Pant in preparation for the World T20 in 2020. “Dhoni knows what his role and position are. All these talks about his retirement and when he will call it quits make no sense as he is a team player. He will never react to any controversy and I am sure you all know this much about the man and his ethics. While the team management is grooming Pant with an eye on the next T20 World Cup and beyond, they want Dhoni as a mentor and back-up if he is needed going into the tournament,” said Prasad.
He added that “they want him to stick around a bit longer. There is no denying the fact that Pant is the future and he will be looked at across all formats, but Dhoni’s guidance, as well as presence, is still needed.”
The focus of India has now shifted from prioritizing its top players to rebuilding the team in order to match other teams' chemistry and performance in future matches. To find out more about upcoming matches, visit Betwala's page.
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