MS Dhoni can take over coaching role in the Indian team a little bit later: Sunil Gavaskar

Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes that legendary cricketer MS Dhoni should take up the coaching role of the Indian team in the near future. Currently, the stumper-batter is playing in the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League and despite rumours of him retiring at the end of the season, the 41-year-old hinted that he might continue to play in IPL 2024 as well.

When it comes to his experience in coaching, Dhoni was the mentor of the Indian team in the T20 World Cup 2021. Even though India failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the competition, Dhoni spent quite some time with the cricketers and was spotted grooming the youngsters as well. Thus, he has the experience but Gavaskar wants him to take up the job after a couple of years because the decisions he will be making will revolve around players he has played with.

“MS Dhoni could take over the coaching role (in the Indian team) a little bit later. I think that is how it should be. I do believe that you need a little bit of cooling off period before you take any assignment with the team (after retiring as a player). 

“Be it the selection committee, the manager, or the coach, I think you need a 2 or 3-year cooling off period because you are making decisions about the player that you have been playing with. You can give anyone a three-year cooling-off period and then look at it,” Gavaskar said while talking to Star Sports during Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings' match in the IPL 2023.

Meanwhile, under Dhoni’s leadership, Chennai have won five matches in the ongoing season and with that, they are currently third on the IPL Points Table. When it comes to Dhoni’s performance with the bat, he has impressed everyone, scoring 74 runs in ten matches at a whopping strike rate of 211.42. He has mostly played small cameos and if promoted up in the order, the cricketer might score more runs in the middle.