The national selection panel is reportedly unhappy on MS Dhoni captaining India during the team’s Asia Cup Super Four game against Afghanistan.
With the spot in the final already sealed following the wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh, India threw a big surprise before the inconsequential game against Afghanistan. Dhoni returned to lead India as stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma along with several other regular players was rested for the clash. The World Cup-winning skipper had stepped down as India’s limited-overs captain in January 2017 and handed over the reins to Virat Kohli.
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The veteran batsman donned the captain’s hat for India for the first time after 696 days.
The game was Dhoni’s 200th ODI as India captain. Prior to that game, he had last captained India in the ODI series against New Zealand. He thus became only the third player to lead a side in 200 ODIs. Ricky Ponting led Australia (ICC) in 230 ODIs from 2002-2012 while New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming led in 218 ODIs from 1997-2007.
But while Dhoni left everyone pleasantly surprised by coming out for the toss, the selectors seem to be unhappy with the turn of events.
“The selectors are not pleased that wholesale changes were rung in for the match and both stand-in captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan sat out with MS Dhoni forced to be captain again, out of nowhere,”a BCCI source was quoted saying by India Today.
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Dhoni, however, could not guide India to a win in perhaps his last game as the skipper of the national team. The game had ended in a thrilling tie. But it did not have any impact on the standings as India had already booked their place in the final. The Men in Blue had then gone on to beat Bangladesh to seal a record seventh Asia Cup title.