HEAD COACH SHASTRI SLAMS DHONI CRITICS

Mumbai, Nov. 10: Team India head coach Ravi Shastri silenced queries on current wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, saying that great players like Dhoni should decide their own future.

“Looks like there are a lot of jealous people around, who just want Dhoni to have a couple of bad days .... There are a few people who are waiting to see the end of M.S. Dhoni. But great players like him decide their own future,” Shastri was quoted as saying by Anandabazar Patrika.

“It (the criticism) doesn’t make a difference to me. In our mind we know where Dhoni stands within the team. He is an ultimate team man. He was a great leader and now an ultimate team man,” he added.

This comes a day after Team India skipper Virat Kohli defended the wicket-keeper batsman.

Kohli said, “First, I don’t understand why are people only pointing him out, I’m not able to understand this. If I fail as a batsman three times, no one is going to point fingers at me because I am not over 35.

“The guy is fit, he is passing all the fitness tests. He is contributing to the team in every tactical way on the field. With the bat, if you look at the series against Australia and Sri Lanka, he did really well. In this series, he has not got much time to bat,” Kohli had said at the post-match press conference.

Shastri hailed Dhoni’s presence in the team and said that a great leader like him is a must in the team. “It (the criticism) doesn’t make a difference to me. In our mind, we know where Dhoni stands within the team.

“He is an ultimate teamman. He was a great leader and now an ultimate team-man,” Shastri said.

Dhoni’s performance has been heavily criticised and talks of his retirement are slowly gaining ground.