The much talked about topic of MS Dhoni’s retirement was once again raised during the press conference of the BCCI Chief Selector MSK Prasad. The Chief selector was announcing the Indian squads for West Indies tour when he was asked about it.
Dhoni’s availability and India’s plan
The senior selection committee led by MSK Prasad met in Mumbai on Sunday to take a final call on the squads for India’s tour of West Indies, starting from August 3. The one-month-long tour will see India playing three T20Is, three ODIs, and two Tests. Dhoni made himself unavailable for the said tour a couple of days ago. He will be busy with his army regiment for the next couple of months. The speculations suggested that the Indian team would like to groom Pant as the future keeper-batsman and the announcement went in that line only. Naturally, the Chief Selector was asked about Dhoni’s retirement. But he said, “He [MS Dhoni] is unavailable for this series. he has expressed his unavailability. Having said that, we had certain road maps till the World Cup. Subsequently, post the World Cup, we have laid down few more plans. We thought of giving as many opportunities to Rishabh Pant to see he is groomed. That’s our plan right now.”
Pant is Priority
Prasad also mentioned that Dhoni knows the best when to retire and it is purely individual. “Retirement is purely individual. A legendary cricketer like MS Dhoni… he knows when to retire. But as far as the future roadmap is considered, that is in the hands of the selectors.” But he denied to discuss Dhoni’s strike rate in World Cup 2019 and would like to focus on the young Rishabh Pant. “Rishabh Pant has not done anything wrong for his non-inclusion in the squads. Rishabh Pant is going to play all three formats. So we need to manage his workload. So Wriddhiman Saha and KS Bharat will come into the picture.”
