Late on Friday evening, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the T20I squads for the three-match series at home against West Indies and away to Australia next month. And one big name was missing from both: Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The former India captain, whose position in the limited-overs squad has been one of constant debate in the recent past, was left out of all six matches, with Rishabh Pant named as the first-choice wicket-keeper. Dinesh Karthik is also part of both the squads.
The immediate reaction seemed to be one of questioning the future of Dhoni in the shortest format. Despite his struggles in the format for India, Dhoni had a fantastic IPL this year but it now seems the selectors are looking past the iconic cricketer and grooming a successor.
“Dhoni’s not going to play the six T20Is because we’re looking at the second keeper slot. It is not the end of Dhoni in T20Is,” chief selector MSK Prasad was quoted as saying.
Despite Prasad saying this is not the end of Dhoni’s T20I career, Twitter was expectedly abuzz with reaction to the news.
This sentiment (flawed as it is) was repeated often too.
Of course, humour was one way many chose to react to the news.
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