Dhoni must keep delivering, 2019 World Cup not guaranteed: MSK

Indian skipper Virat Kohli may have sung high praise of predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s mentoring role, but chief selector MSK Prasad has said the latter’s place in the squad is not guaranteed for the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni, despite his waning powers as a finisher, has been included in the squad for the Sri Lanka series starting on August 20. The Indian selectors though dropped Yuvraj Singh, who has struggled on the field.

Emphasising on fitness as a key criterion to make it to the 2019 World Cup squad, Prasad revealed the selectors’ thinking when asked whether Dhoni was an automatic choice in the build-up to the major tournament. “Discussions happen about everybody. It’s not just MS. When we pick, when we talk about combinations, we talk about everybody. You will also see that in the time to come,” Prasad said.

“We are all stakeholders. We all want the Indian team to do well. If he is delivering, why not? If he is not, we’ll have to look at alternatives.”

Prasad said the cricket Board (BCCI) will introduce fitness for selection to the Indian squad after finding the fielding levels not up to the mark during the Champions Trophy.

“Skill-wise we are No 1 in the world, (but) when it comes to fitness, we need to raise our standards. We have two to three phases in those parameters leading up to the 2019 World Cup. If someone fails to match them, he will not be considered, irrespective of who he is.”

Prasad however maintained Yuvraj was rested and not dropped. “We have started a policy where we have identified some set of players who will be considered for the next 4-5 months, and we will rotate them. After that we will get a picture that these are the players who will go on to play the 2019 World Cup.”