12th Man –
Ambati Rayadu
Ambati Rayadu is a dependable middle order batsman who has been consistent at scoring runs whenever given a chance in the playing eleven. Rayadu an attacking batsman can provide impetus to the innings by scoring at a brisk pace. He can don the wicket-keeping gloves too.
My only notable and debatable omission from the playing Eleven is India’s flamboyant left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh. Yuvi has a very mediocre batting record in ODIs under Dhoni’s captaincy over the past five years hence didn’t make the cut.
Bench Strength
Dhoni has a decent reserve of seam bowlers in Mohit Sharma, R Vinay Kumar and Ashok Dinda who all have done well whenever called in for national duty. Meanwhile, the tall and lanky veteran seamer Ishant Sharma has been more of a test bowler under Dhoni’s captaincy.
Axar Patel and Stuart Binny have been handy all-rounders in the limited overs arena. Seasoned wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik has donned the keeping gloves for India in Dhoni’s absence.
I haven’t considered certain players who are regulars in the test team but don’t feature in the ODI scheme of things. Notable among them are seasoned opener Murali Vijay, dependable test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and leg-spinner Amit Mishra.
Former Indian stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan played under Dhoni’s captaincy but all of them were in the fag end of their careers hence did not feature regularly in the period taken into consideration for selection.
Hope you enjoyed reading my and would draw consensus with most of the players who were rightfully deserving to form the Best ODI team in Dhoni’s Era (2011-2016).
Note – All stats have been taken from ESPN Cricinfo