Five Reasons Why India Are Still Not Ready For MS Dhoni's Retirement

MS Dhoni’s retirement is perhaps the biggest talking point in the Indian cricket circle at the moment. Those talks would have only gathered steams in the wake of India’s exit from the World Cup. Quite a number of quarters believed that the World Cup would be MS Dhoni‘s swansong in international cricket. But as of now, MS Dhoni has refrained from hanging up his boots.

Speculations are rife that MS Dhoni would bring down curtains on his illustrious career very soon. Recent reports are also suggesting that the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman is waiting to arrive to India to take a final call on his retirement. But amidst all these, the question that arises is whether India is ready to take the field without MS Dhoni.

So here are five reasons which prove why India are just not ready for MS Dhoni’s retirement:

5. Wicketkeeping skills:

No matter how Dhoni has performed with the bat, his work behind the stumps has been nearly impeccable. The former India skipper is one of the most decorated wicketkeepers in the history of the game and any team would love to have him. Despite being on the wrong side of 30s, his fast hands are nothing less than an asset for Team India.

4. Absence of good wicketkeeper:

MS Dhoni is going to retire anyway. It is just a matter of time. The major problem for Team India is that they they don’t have a readymade replacement for their star man. Rishabh Pant has showed promise but his wicketkeeping needs a lot of improvement. The youngster has looked good with the bat but has not at all managed to make a good impression with the wicketkeeping gloves.

Wriddhiman Saha is a better wicketkeeper but he is unlikely to make it to the limited-overs side. Thus India would be hoping that Dhoni continue for a while and Pant manages to improve himself in the meantime.

3. Absence of reliable middle-order batsman:

India’s middle order has been their Achilles heel for quite some time now. They have tried a host of names but are yet to find a reliable batsman. India’s middle-order conundrum is one of the reasons why they exited the World Cup. After the top-order had a rare failure with the bat against New Zealand, the middle-order had failed to deliver.

The likes of Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik had failed to get going which further highlighted Dhoni’s importance to the team.

2. MS Dhoni’s solid presence:

MS Dhoni might be getting criticized for his batting but there is little denying the fact that he has consistently scored. The former India skipper’s only fault has been his poor strike-rate. At the start of this year, he struck three consecutive fifties in Australia to power India to a historic series triumph. He then impressed in New Zealand too.

Even in the semifinal against New Zealand, Dhoni scored a fighting fifty while most of his teammates failed to get going. Thus there is little denying that the veteran star is still a pillar of India’s middle-order.

1. Leadership skills:

This is the biggest reason that India would love to have MS Dhoni in the team as long as possible. it has been over two years since MS Dhoni stepped down as captain. However, his role in the team has not changed at all. Current skipper Virat Kohli still relies a lot on Dhoni to get the things done on the field.

Time and again, Kohli has highlighted Dhoni’s importance in the team. Not only that, the youngsters have also spoken highly of Dhoni and have stated just how much help they get from their senior teammate.