Mumbai: Ahead of India's departure for the ODI and T20 series in Australia, skipper MS Dhoni spoke at length about teams that were picked for the tour, Ashwin being a ‘thinking cricketer’ and who would bat at number 5, 6 or 7 in absence of Suresh Raina.
However, he kept it short and sweet when asked about his retirement.
“I am a person who lives in the present and the focus right now is the Australian tour leading up to the World T20 Championships. I will think about it at the right time,” he said.
Although his stock as leader is still intact, the questions, ‘has Dhoni – the skipper- run his course?’ or ‘should Virat Kohli take over from Captain Cool?’ have been louder than ever before. More so, following India’s ODI series losses against Bangladesh and South Africa in 2015 and India’s success under Kohli’s leadership in Tests.
Sandeep Patil – chief selector of Team India – had backed Dhoni after picking ODI and T20 sides for Australia tour, saying, "We named Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain as we wanted to end the speculations in the media. Not only media but players in general should know who will be their leader."
It was an emphatic statement to end whether MS Dhoni – the skipper who has won everything that’s there to be won in the limited overs cricket – should continue as Team India captain in ODIs and T20s debate.
The Australia tour – India’s first in 2016 – has taken Dhoni to the place where he enjoys a mix bag of fortunes as India’s skipper. He had one of his best moments as he successfully led India to the famous tri-series win after the Sydney-gate in 2008 and where his team lost a Test series 0-4 a few years later.
Australia is also the county where he played his last Test before retiring from the five-day format of the game.
While he has decided to speak about retirement from shorter format(s) at the right time, this limited-overs series (5 ODIs and 3 T20s) could well be his last tour to Australia as Team India skipper. Or as indicated in one of the new commercials ahead of World T20, he may be gearing up for the second coming.
