Dhoni's captaincy skills have not deserted him, his luck has: Kirmani

Following another ODI series defeat against Australia, a lot of former cricketers have called for Kohli, India's captain in the Test format, to replace Dhoni as the leader in all the formats. However, Kirmani does not agree with the likes of Erapalli Prasanna and Mohinder Amarnath, as he insists that Dhoni's captaincy skills has not deserted him.

"If you ask me, it was the best decision to make Dhoni the Indian captain [in 2007]. He took India to the top in all three formats. He became the most successful captain in India's history and has been their most consistent performer. Now, you cannot expect Dhoni to be on top of his game all the time. It's not his captaincy skills that have deserted him. It's just that luck is holding against him," Kirmani was quoted as saying by Times of India.

In the recently concluded ODI series, India have lost a lot of matches from a position of strength, with their finishing, be it with bat or the ball, letting them down. Kirmani feels that there is “nothing wrong” with the side, just that they are failing to cross the final hurdle.

"They should leave it to Dhoni to decide on his future. There's nothing wrong with the team. They've been scoring over 300 in almost every match in Australia. It's just that India have failed to cross the final hurdle and we've lost some touch-and-go situations," he added.

Virat Kohli's stocks as a captain has been on the rise, following his wins against Sri Lanka and South Africa, however, Kirmani claims that the dynamic batsman still has a lot to learn from MSD.

"He is a magnificent player and he has led well so far in Test matches. But I think he still has a lot to learn from Dhoni. He has to acquire the good leadership qualities of Dhoni and at the same time remain the same person that he is," explained Kirmani.

When asked about how India can replace someone like Dhoni in the side, Kirmani said, "No one is irreplaceable. When Farokh Engineer left the scene, everyone wondered who would replace him, and then I came along. Likewise, when Gavaskar retired, there were talks of who would fill in his boots and Tendulkar did that. So eventually someone would rise to the occasion. Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel are all contenders and they are all good with the bat".