One Has To Keep Playing To Remain In Contention: Venkatpathy Raju On MS Dhoni
Published - 22 Mar 2020, 04:20 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:04 AM
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Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni’s future remains up in the air, just like the fate of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ever since India lost to New Zealand in the World Cup 2019 semifinal, Dhoni hasn’t played a single international match.
The 38-year-old ruled himself out of contention for the West Indies tour after the World Cup and hasn’t featured for the team ever since. Team India’s coach Ravi Shastri said that Dhoni will remain in contention for selection if he performs well at the IPL.
Dhoni’s future hangs in the balance:
He even started preparations for the upcoming season, but as fate would have it, the outbreak of COVID-19 Coronavirus forced Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to suspend their training camp. The middle-order batsman is now back in his home town in Ranchi and will continue preparation from there.
Meanwhile, the IPL has been delayed until April 15, and it remains to be seen if the league actually begins at the postponed date as well. If due to the dangers of Coronavirus, the IPL gets cancelled, then it will be a hefty blow to Dhoni’s future.
While his fans would love to see the wicket-keeper batsman return to the national team, former Indian spinner and selector Venkatpathy Raju, who appointed Dhoni as skipper back in the days, has made a shocking revelation by hinting that he wouldn’t pick the veteran now.
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One has to keep playing and performing to remain in contention: Venkatpathy Raju
In an interview with Sportstar, Raju, who was part of the selectors’ panel that promoted Dhoni as skipper of the team, hinted that he wouldn’t select the experienced player in the current scheme of things.
“Any player has to keep playing and performing to be in the contention. Be it domestic, India-A series or any other competitive cricket. You don’t have to prove to others, but prove to yourself that you belong there,” said the 50-year-old.
“Playing international cricket is never easy. It demands a different level of fitness and skills. For that, you have to be in the thick of it. I remember how I struggled coming back into the Indian team after a three-year gap because of the totally different kind of intensive training in the Indian team as compared to playing Ranji or other first-class tournaments,” he added further.
