Mahendra Singh Dhoni Invaluable If He Keeps Performing, Says Rahul Dravid

Jan 9, 2019 at 4:12 PM

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni Invaluable If He Keeps Performing, Says Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid, former India captain and current coach of India A and U-19, has said Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be invaluable to Virat Kohli, if he performs exceeding well with the bat.

“There is no doubt that someone of MS Dhoni’s experience and ability, when playing well, is invaluable to the side. That’s the kind of experience and knowledge and ability, under pressure especially. It is not easy to find and not easy to get,” Dravid said in a conversation with ESPNcricinfo.

However, Dravid added that from now on, it’ll not be an easy road for Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he has to earn his place in the team on the basis of his batting.

“The question obviously remains that you need to earn your place in the team and you need to do it with performances. So at his best and performing really well, a guy like MS Dhoni is invaluable to India’s one-day team, especially in the big tournaments coming up. But I think that’ll also be decided by his own performances and his own ability. I think now he’ll really be judged on how he performs and can he hold his place in the side purely in terms of his wicket-keeping and batting. And that’ll be up to him.”

Speaking on how difficult is to step down from the captaincy, he said, “I don’t think it’s very difficult,” Dravid said. “From personal experience as well, it takes a little bit of getting used to and adjusting – of not setting the field and not running things – but I think you get used to it. And Dhoni spent a lot of time as a player and not having captained before he started captaining in 2007. So I don’t think it should take him too much time to get used to it. And knowing the kind of person he is and the personality he is, I don’t see it as too much of a problem.

“[Dhoni’s decision was] probably not that much of a surprise, in the sense that he probably knew that the time was sooner rather than later,” Dravid said. “There was the talk of him continuing till the Champions Trophy with only one one-day series before that.

The Indian squad for the limited-overs series against England is to be announced on January 6 and Virat Kohli is all set to become the team’s new ODI and T20I captain. The Champions Trophy 2017 will be Kohli’s first big limited-overs assignment.

Both Kohli and Dhoni will be under immense pressure as Indian team will go into the tournament as defending champions. The presence of Dhoni in the squad will be of utmost importance as Kohli has led India outside the sub-continent in just two games and this’ll be the first time when Indian team will go into an ICC tournament with Virat Kohli as captain and Mahendra Singh Dhoni a member of the team at the same time.

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