Selectors should ask MS Dhoni about his future plans, reckons Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir feels the selectors should be clear as to where MS Dhoni stands on his future with the Indian cricket team instead of him being allowed to choose the times he wants to represent the country. He further talked about Rishabh Pant’s performances and Virat Kohli’s captaincy.
With the future of India’s longest serving active player uncertain, retirement rumours have been circling MS Dhoni for quite some time now. Having attained the age of 38, he is on hiatus till November, having further extended the break from cricket, which was initially scheduled to end ahead of the series against the Proteas. Retired opener Gautam Gambhir on Thursday put forward his views on the ongoing matter.
"I have always maintained this one thing. Retirement is an individual call, I think for me selectors should talk to him and ask him about his future plans. Ultimately for me, playing for India, you should not be picking and choosing series," the elected MP was quoted saying by TOI.
With him most likely to hang up his boots soon enough, Rishabh Pant is pegged to replace the veteran and has already taken his place in the national team. However, he has come under criticism for underperforming but Gambhir has expressed faith in the 21-year-old.
"There is too much attention that is being given to a new player. He is just 21, he has played for the last two and a half years. He has got two hundreds in Test cricket. We should not be comparing him with anyone, the team management should be backing him in the right way. He is still young and he has got a long future ahead,” Gambhir quoted.
“Team management should talk to Pant. Not just Kohli, Ravi Shastri should also speak to him. Pant should be given freedom, if you curb him, he won't play to his potential. You have to accept that Pant will not always get his shot selection right. On his day, he can win you a game," he further suggested.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli recently became India’s most successful Test captain away from home ahead of DHoni and Sourav Ganguly. However, he has failed to lead his IPL team RCB anywhere close to the title, with the franchise ending at the bottom of the pile last year which has made Gamb hir raise doubts as to whether he is yet a complete captain.
“Still a long way to go for him. Kohli was very good in the last World Cup but he has a long way to go. He captains so well in international cricket because he has got Rohit Sharma, he had MS Dhoni for a long time. Captaincy credentials are noticed when you are leading a franchise, when you do not have other players supporting you, Gambhir had told reporters while interacting with the students of a university. I have been honest whenever I have spoken about this. See what Rohit Sharma has achieved for Mumbai Indians, see what Dhoni has achieved for Chennai Super Kings. If you compare that with RCB, the results are there for everyone to see,” he concluded.