Is There Any Cricketer Who Can Take MS Dhoni's Place? Asks Kapil Dev

Former India skipper Kapil Dev feels the country does not have any apt replacement for the ageing MS Dhoni at the time being.

Dhoni has been receiving the shots from the critics for quite some time now. The former India skipper’s finishing abilities have been on a decline in recent times.

The 36-year old has not fared that poorly with the bat, but such has been the expectations from him that each failure of his has been met with severe criticism.

As a result, the detractors have ignored Dhoni’s contribution to the team. The World Cup-winning skipper is still one of the best wicketkeepers in the world. Moreover, he is nothing less than a mentor for the youngsters in the team.

Not surprisingly, the team management has fully backed their veteran skipper. And now Kapil Dev has also leapt in the World Cup-winning skipper’s defence.

Slamming media for their over the board expectation from Dhoni, the legendary cricketer said theMSD’s place in the team should not be questioned.

“Why do people have this doubt? Is there any cricketer who can take Mahi’s place in the next series? I’m not talking about the 2019 World Cup. I’ll go series by series. He’s such a mature cricketer if he can help Virat Kohli, why not? If he’s not performing at all, I can understand. The problem with the media is that they compare Dhoni with what he was ten years back. He’s not going to be like that, but I think we need to see whatever he’s doing for the team is it good enough for the team or not,” said Kapil on the sidelines of Laureus Sports Awards in Monaco.

Dhoni had played an integral part in Virat Kohli’s seamless transformation as limited-overs skipper. Kohli has been witnessed taking advice from his predecessor on several occasions. Not only that, the young spinners – Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have also relied on Dhoni’s input to perform.

“Actually I was confused a bit what I should bowl because I am playing in South Africa for the first time and it was a new experience for me,” Kuldeep had recently said.

“The wind was good, and the ball was drifting so I was confused what to bowl, and which variation to use. So I was asking Mahi bhai (Dhoni), and he told me ‘bowl as you are bowling’. It is good that he keeps advising from behind the wickets, it gets easier.”

“As a spinner, he [Dhoni] does 50 percent of your work because he has played so much cricket; he reads the batsmen easily,” he had added.

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