"What Will Be Your Call On MS Dhoni’s Future?" CAC Asks Potential New Selectors
Published - 04 Mar 2020, 11:19 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:04 AM

Candidates appearing for the interview of national selectors faced a tricky question from the Madan Lal-led Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). The candidates were asked about the much-talked about future of former India skipper MS Dhoni. The three-member panel had a common question for the potential national selectors: “what will be your call on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s future with the Indian team?”
Five candidates –Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Venkatesh Prasad, Rajesh Chauhan, Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh was asked a common question on MS Dhoni. The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman has not played any competitive game since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand in July.
As soon as the World Cup ended, he took a sabbatical from the game which is yet to end. It will, however, end later this month when he leads Chennai Super Kings in the IPL beginning on March 29. But there is still no clarity whatsoever over his future in international cricket.
“Yes, the CAC had one common question and that was about their call with regards to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and whether they will select him for T20 World Cup,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.

Eventually, Joshi and Harvinder were named the two new selectors in the five-member panel. It is understood that the new BCCI regime wants the selection committee to have a clear cut stand on Dhoni’s international future.
“Dhoni is both a sensitive and tricky issue and that’s why the question needed to be asked,” the source added.
A few of the candidates were also asked whether they are “only looking at the chairman’s post” or they would be happy to become just a selector.
While Sivaramakrishnan was a strong candidate, it is learnt that CAC was not sure if he would have been ready to serve only as a selector under the chairman. As pointed out by Lal himself, Joshi did not have any issues in working with anyone else at the helm.
“We liked his straight forward attitude,” Lal said after the interviews in Mumbai on Wednesday.