When MS Dhoni was roped in as the mentor for ICC T20I World Cup earlier this year, the decision was met with much fanfare, as fans were happy to see their beloved captain back in the Indian dressing room. However, that ecstasy proved to be short-lived as the Indian team limped out of the World Cup after failing to win its first two games against New Zealand and Pakistan.
The tournament also proved to be the last chance saloon for Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, while the latter was replaced by Rahul Dravid at the helm, the former was replaced by Rohit Sharma, first as T20 and later as ODI skipper. While Shastri’s tenure as head coach was nearing its end after the World Cup, Kohli had already announced his decision to relinquish T20I captaincy before the tournament even began.
Meanwhile, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah revealed that MS Dhoni was given the mentor’s role owing to the fact that he had extensive experience in ICC tournaments and that the young players could benefit from his experience and wisdom.
That being said, former Indian bowler, Atul Wassan however feels that Dhoni was roped in only because Kohli and Shastri were ‘controlling Indian cricket’.
Speaking to CNN-News18’s panel, Wassan said that he felt Kohli and Shastri were having it all their own way, and therefore MS Dhoni was brought in to bring some sort of ‘balance’ into the dressing room.
“I’ll tell you. Dhoni was brought in just to keep some balance because everybody had a feeling that Virat and Ravi Shastri were totally handling, selecting, managing whoever they wanted to play,” said Wassan.
He further added, “They were controlling Indian cricket. So, they (BCCI) thought somebody should come in with some kind of value who would just monitor that there is a balance. I think they messed up greatly in the World Cup.”
Team India is currently in South Africa as they prepare to take on the Proteas in a three-match Test series beginning from December 26 at Centurion.
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