Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s future in the T20 format was uncertain after he was not included for the T20 series against West Indies and Australia. There were speculations that the selectors might sideline him from the 2019 world cup tournament as well considering the dominant run by Rishabh Pant in England.
However, after sitting out for 6 T20 games, MS Dhoni was finally included in the T20 squad for New Zealand series that will be played in February 2019. The move was a certain reason of joy for the Dhoni fans but cricket experts were not too pleased with the decision of bringing back the former captain in the T20 squad after handing the baton to Rishabh Pant.
Virat Kohli earlier cleared that Dhoni himself wanted a young cricketer to step in his place in the shortest format of the game but his inclusion in T20 squad has raised some eyebrows. Meanwhile a source close to BCCI has said that Dhoni was included in the T20 squad in order he gets more games before the 2019 world cup.
“Since there are only eight ODIs (three against Australia and five against New Zealand), selectors want to give MS as much game time as possible (before the World Cup). Three T20Is means 11 international matches through the next one month,” a BCCI official told PTI on the condition of anonymity as reported by Times of India.
India’s squad for T20I series against New Zealand: Virat Kohli(Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed.
