MS Dhoni’s return to Indian team looks bleak – Virender Sehwag

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag believes MS Dhoni’s return to the national colours looks difficult now. Sehwag feels there is no place left for the former Indian skipper as the likes of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant have come to fore especially with the former in prime form in limited-overs format.

On the other hand, MS Dhoni played his last International match for the Indian team when the Men in Blue suffered a heartbreaking loss in the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. Dhoni then decided to take a break from International cricket and made himself unavailable for national selection.

Furthermore, many experts believed MS Dhoni’s future in the Indian jersey will depend on the forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. If Dhoni will have a good season for the Chennai Super Kings, it will boost his chances of making a return to the national team. However, with the outbreak of coronavirus, the 13th season of the cash-rich league hangs on by a thread.

“Where will he fit in? With the likes of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul already in form, especially the latter performing exceptionally well of late, I think there is no reason why we should not stick with them,” Sehwag was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

On the other hand, India had a bad tour of New Zealand as they were whitewashed 3-0 in the ODI series and lost 2-0 in the Test series. Sehwag added that the hosts were better than the visitors as they were able to make the most of their home conditions and outplayed the Virat Kohli’s men in all the departments.

“We must admit that the Kiwis were superior to us in the ODIs and Tests. In the T20s, Kiwis lost close matches. In the shortest format it is always difficult to make a quick comeback,” said Sehwag.

Meanwhile, the Indian captain, Virat Kohli had a horrible New Zealand series with the bat as he could only surpass the 50-run mark on a solitary occasion on the whole tour. Kohli could only gather 38 runs in the two Test matches at a paltry average of 9.37. Sehwag went on to put his weight behind Kohli and added that the lean phase of form has happened to the best in the business.

On Kohli’s form, Sehwag opined: “He is a class batsman but that has happened to all the great batsmen in different eras be it Sachin Tendulkar, Steven Waugh, Jacques Kallis or Ricky Ponting.”

The cricketing world has been put on hold due to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus and the IPL has been suspended till April 15. Meanwhile, the T20 World Cup which will take place later in the year will be the main focus of the Indian team.

Written by: Gautam Chauhan