Drop MS Dhoni For The Sri Lanka T20Is, Says Former India Test Opener

After the likes of VVS Laxman and Ajit Agarkar, former India opener Aakash Chopra has also urged India to look beyond the under-fire Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the shortest format of the game.

The former India skipper’s knock in the second T20I against New Zealand has divided the Indian cricket fraternity into two halves. While one half is treating that knock as one bad day at the office, the other half feels that knock is a sign of Dhoni’s diminishing abilities in T20Is.

Dhoni had walked into bat when India was reeling at 67 for four in the tenth over in pursuit of a daunting 197. With the team needing more than 10 runs per over, the situation demanded Dhoni to go after the bowlers right from the start. However, the World Cup-winning captain’s usual way of consuming too many balls early in the innings took the momentum off the chase, as the Men in Blue eventually lost the game by 40 runs.

Drop MS Dhoni For The Sri Lanka T20Is, Says Former India Test Opener

Dhoni managed just 17 runs off the first 20 balls he faced before launching Ish Sodhi for his first six. At a time, when the team needed more than ten runs per over, Dhoni batting with a strike-rate of less than 100 all but sealed the fate of the game in the visitors’ favour. The 36-year old managed to get his strike-rate over 100 towards the end, scoring 49 off 37 but it was too late by then.

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In the aftermath of the chase, former India players VVS Laxman and Agarkar have said Dhoni should quit T20Is while the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag have backed the former India skipper. And now Chopra has given his views on the matter. The former Test player feels Dhoni should be dropped from the team for the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka.

“After this series (India vs New Zealand) is done, India are playing against Sri Lanka. They (SL) are not a top draw, and one can take chances and then may be rethink once you go to South Africa, because you have few T20 matches against a top-ranked T20 side (South Africa). They will come hard at you,” Chopra was quoted as saying according to a report in ibtimes.co.in.

“For the Sri Lanka tour to India, may be time is ripe to try somebody else, keep them in the loop. Because Dhoni’s numbers have overridden the last year and year and half, it has dwindled,” added the former India opener.

Well, the India team for the Sri Lanka series is yet to be announced but considering the fact that the team is firmly behind Dhoni, it is quite unlikely to see Dhoni getting axed.

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Speaking after the third T20I, Kohli had thrown his support behind Dhoni, saying:” First, I don’t understand why are people only pointing him out, I’m not able to understand this. If I fail three times, no one is going to point fingers at me because I’m not over 35. The guy is fit, he is passing all the fitness tests, he is contributing to the team in every way possible, tactically on the field, with the bat. If you look at the series against Sri Lanka and Australia, he did really well and in this series he hasn’t got much time to bat.

“You have to understand, the position in which he comes out to bat, even Hardik [Pandya] could not score in that game. Then why are we only pointing out one man? Hardik also got out in the last T20 that we played in Rajkot. We are conveniently targeting only one man which is not fair. We also have to look at the fact that by the time he comes in, either the run rate is already eight-and-a-half or nine-and-a-half and the wicket is also not the same when the new ball is bowled,” he added.

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