Despite Windies win, many points to ponder
To ‘musthave’ MS Dhoni in playing XI impacts India’s team balance
dra Singh Dhoni, for it impacts not only the composition of the squad, but the balance of the playing XI.
As wicket-keeper, his credentials are unimpeachable. None of the others – his peers Parthiv or Dinesh Karthik nor youngsters like Pant or Ishan Kishan – measure up to Dhoni’s skills.
His experience is invaluable. I am not swayed by the ‘age factor’ that is frequently touted as criticism against him. He will be 38 next year, but that is no handicap.
The history of the World Cup is replete with examples of players of this seniority in age (Rohan Kanhai in 1975, Clive Lloyd 1983, Imran Khan 1992, Adam Gilchrist 2007, Sachin Tendulkar 2011) playing stellar roles for their teams.
However, Dhoni struggling to make runs necessitates a buffer in the batting, which in turn reduces bowling options. In any case, India’s tail is looking longer than before, with Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and new wunderkind Khaleel Ahmed (if he makes the cut) with no pretensions to batting at all.
Dhoni’s omission from the T20 side is tell-tale that the 2019 World Cup will be his swansong. He is now freed up to focus his attention and energies on the premier tournament.
The best outcome of this would be if he can regain his batting rhythm and mojo asap to command a place in the World Cup, not depend on past memories and sentiment.
(The writer is a senior cricket analyst and views are personal)