India coach Ravi Shastri spoke in support of MS Dhoni, saying that the veteran wicket keeper was a great leader and is now an “ultimate team man.” Many former cricketers and experts have indicated that India should try out someone younger than Dhoni in the wicket keeping position following the former captain’s recent failures with the bat. But current Indian skipper Virat Kohli vehemently supported Dhoni after India’s third T20I against New Zealand and now Shastri has also voiced his opinion.
“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 MS Dhoni,” Shastri is quoted as saying by Anandabazar Patrika, “But great players like him decide their own future.”
Dhoni’s decline with the bat was most recently highlighted when he ate up deliveries in the second T20I against New Zealand and was unable to give strike to Virat Kohli who was bludgeoning opposition bowlers from the other end. But Kohli had said that any player who walked in at that position would have found it difficult to score runs. Shastri also said that any criticism of MS Dhoni doesn’t make a difference to him. “It (the criticism) doesn’t make a difference to me. In our mind we know where Dhoni stands within the team,” said the Indian coach, “He is an ultimate team man. He was a great leader and now an ultimate team man.”
Dhoni had retired from Tests in 2014 and since then Wriddhiman Saha has been the man behind the stumps for India in the longest format. There have been calls for him or Rishabh Pant to be tried our for limited overs cricket. But Shastri also said that former cricketers and pundits may be criticising Dhoni because of the nature of television discussions. “Not so long ago I used to do television and people used to ask me questions. You need to answer questions to make a show happen,” he said, “Dhoni is a superstar. He is one of our greatest cricketers. So he is always going to be a great topic. He is always going to be a topic because he is a legend. When you have a career as glorious as that, you become a topic on television.”
