Team India’s final game in World Cup 2019 could be MS Dhoni’s last appearance

MS Dhoni has struggled with the bat in the ICC World Cup 2019, raising a lot of questions over the decision to retain him in the team. The chances are now high that the 37-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman will be appearing for the country for the last time in this tournament. Nothing will be more worthwhile than Dhoni, one of the biggest cricketers that the country has produced, getting a farewell in the final at the Lord’s on July 14 provided India make it. Incidentally, he will turn 38 on the seventh of this month.

Dhoni, who is playing in his fourth World Cup after making international debut in 2004, though has been good with the gloves but has faced the flak for having failed to accelerate the scoring towards the end. Starting with his 52-ball 28 against Afghanistan, the bottom-placed team in the tournament, Dhoni has failed to score briskly against a number of teams. He has hit only one fifty in the tournament so far which was against the West Indies at Old Trafford.

You never know with MS Dhoni

“You never know with MS Dhoni. But it is unlikely that he will continue to play for India after this World Cup. But since his decisions to quit captaincy from the three formats have been taken so suddenly, it is very difficult to predict at the moment,” Hindustan Times cited reports quoting a senior BCCI official who chose to speak on condition of anonymity.

The current Indian selection committee, which is likely to be in action till the Annual General Meeting in October, is set to begin the changeover process keeping in mind the T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia. Dhoni, who plays in the ODI and T20I formats now, was even dropped for an international series recently as the selectors were looking to get on with future prospects.

The veteran played in 90 Tests, 98 T20Is and over 340 ODIs to score more than 17,000 international runs. He has 16 hundreds and 107 fifties to his credit. Dhoni has also led India in 200 ODIs and is still India’s most successful captain across formats.

Not much talks on the sensitive issue yet

However, the Indian team management and the BCCI are not ready to talk on the sensitive issue as long as the World Cup is on. Virat Kohli’s side qualified for the semi-finals on Tuesday when they defeated Bangladesh by 28 runs at Edgbaston though Dhoni’s role with the bat had come under the scanner. He has so far scored 223 runs in seven games at a decent strike rate but it is his failure to rotate the strikes and hit big at crunch moments that have left the fans and experts disappointed.

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“The team management had to take a call in 2017 after the Champions Trophy. They decided that they will invest another two years in Dhoni till the 2019 World Cup. India have reached the semi-finals despite his lukewarm performances so he has been carefully shielded,” a former India player was quoted as saying.

“No one can ask him to retire but obviously he has got the drift that post World Cup, things won’t be the same.”