Indian skipper Virat Kohli, on Thursday, clarified the doubts regarding the omission of Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the T20I squad.
Dhoni, 37, was excluded from India’s T20I squad for the series against West Indies (starting on Sunday) and Australia. The omission threw up questions about the former skipper’s future in the Indian squad.
“I think the selectors have already addressed this if I’m not wrong. And he’s been spoken to, firstly… So, I don’t see any reason why I should be sitting here and explaining that,” said Kohli, on Thursday’s press conference after India beat West Indies by nine-wickets for a series-clinching win.
“I think the selectors have come out and explained exactly what happened. I was not part of that conversation so… It is what the selector explained,” the skipper said.
“I think people are putting too much variables into the situation, which is not the case I can assure of that. He’s still a very integral part of this team and he just feels that in the T20 format, someone like Rishabh can get more chances, he anyway plays the ODIs for us regularly,” Kohli added.
“From that point of view, he’s only trying to help the youngsters; nothing that anything that other people are thinking and I as captain can certainly assure you of that.” Kohli said.
Despite Dhoni’s poor run in ODIs this year, Sunil Gavaskar had earlier defended him, saying “MSD is an absolute must for the 2019 World Cup.”
‘Rayudu and Khaleel have been good’
On the positives from the West Indies series, which India won 3-1, Kohli said he was happy with the way Ambati Rayudu had played at No 4 and the manner in which young Khaleel Ahmed bowled.
“Those two things is something that we were looking for a while; someone to back-up Bhuvi and Bumrah - someone to pick up wickets and bowl in good areas. Having a left-arm seamer gives you variation in the attack. Khaleel was really good and Rayudu of course grabbing his opportunities, batting with maturity, batting with composure. It is always good to plug in the areas that you are looking at,” he added.
On the areas of concern for the team in the run-up to the World Cup in England next year, the India skipper said it was about putting in consistent efforts on the field.
“If we can be consistent as a fielding side, it can give us more consistency overall in our skills department as well. In the field, we can still improve a lot. We have spoken to the people in the practice sessions who need to do the extra effort to sharpen their fielding, and they are putting in that extra effort.
“That is the only area we feel we can get better at. Obviously, batting and bowling are big variables. Fielding is something that is controllable and you need to get that from all the 11 players in the field.”
About the return of Ravindra Jadeja and if he was a frontrunner in the race for the all-rounder slot, Kohli said the Saurashtra left-hander had done well since coming back in the Asia Cup.
“It depends. When Hardik (Pandya) is fit and fine to play, you have to see what is the combination you have to take in the World Cup. If Hardik is fit, Kedar becomes a spin option as well. Hardik becoming fit also gives you four seaming options, along with Kedar and one more spinner. You might need one more spin option. Jadeja becomes the key there with the team balance.”
“In the field, there has been no question about his ability. With the bat and ball he has matured a lot now and brings balance to any side,” the India captain said.
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