Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on Wednesday, stepped down as India’s ODI and T20I captain. He led India in 199 ODIs and 72 ODIs and under him, the Men In Blue won the 2007 World T20, ICC World Cup 2011 and Champions Trophy 2013.
Since he took that decision, there have been speculations that he might call it a day soon, but a source close to Dhoni has confirmed that ‘Magnificent Mahendra’ is not thinking to retire anytime soon and he intends on playing the ICC World Cup 2019. Well, it’ll not be easy for him to survive till that time as now in every series and in every game he participates, he’ll be judged on his batting, which has been below par sometimes and it has always been his brilliant captaincy which has always grabbed the spotlight. Though, he still averages more than 50 in One-Day format, but if numbers were a true reflection of a player, then the word ‘Quality’ would have been kicked out of the game quite earlier.
M.S. Dhoni was under immense pressure as the ODI series win against New Zealand was just Dhoni’s second series win in past four series (One out of two series win came against Zimbabwe).
The decision from Dhoni to step down from captaincy comes as a surprise but it was the need of the hour. This step from Dhoni will give Virat Kohli a chance to build his own team for the World Cup 2019. Sachin Tendulkar did the same in December 2012 when he retired from ODI cricket and gave Dhoni a chance to form his team for 2015 World Cup.
Dhoni will have a lot of hurdles to cross to be eligible to play the next World Cup. Champions Trophy will be the biggest one of them. Every competition he participates in will be an examination for him in which he has to score good numbers. He has to produce the results. If he scores, then he will be retained and if he fails then he can experience a deja vu of what he as a responsible captain did in the year 2008 by dropping Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.
But Dhoni has one advantage which keeps him above of all. He is the fittest player in the Indian dressing room and still no one can match his running between the wickets skills. He is the best wicket-keeper in world cricket currently. And not to forget his finishing skills.
Dhoni might have the intention to play next World Cup but as said, he is not the skipper now and his batting will be the parameter on which he will be judged. The rule is simple – score runs – get a chance to play next series. You fail and you are dropped.