Who will stand behind the stumps for team India? Vacancy Open

Who will stand behind the stumps for team India? Vacancy Open: MS Dhoni’s announcement of his immediate retirement from test cricket on 30th December 2014 soon after the third test match against Australia, stunned the cricket lovers as well as cricket experts. Captain Cool while playing in England told the media that: “this is my final test series in England” and everyone was off the opinion that “most probably after 2015 Cricket world cup Dhoni will leave test cricket”, but suddenly after the third test match during the Border Gavskar trophy, Dhoni shocked the entire world with announcement of his retirement from test cricket. Apart from Dhoni, no one else had a thought of his retirement, vital reason for this step could be the high pressure of performance in all the three formats of game as a skipper. After this announcement the question that arises is, who will come in as Dhoni’s replacement, he will not only have to match him with the standard of keeping, but also as a batsman.

The Possible Choices:

The poster boy of Indian cricket Virat Kohli led the team with Wriddhiman Saha replacing Dhoni in the last test match of the Australian tour. Saha’s reliable and strong performances in the IPL 8 make him best choice as a keeper for the upcoming test tours. Experts also think of Saha as the best replacement of M.S. Dhoni.

Naman Ojha is also a vigorous option for handling the gloves; Ojha has also given some amazing performances recently in the Ranji Trophy while playing for Madhya Pradesh and scored 730 first class runs in the tournament with an average of 73.

Sanju Samson, IPL 7 superstar has also some chances for getting into the test squad. Samson has contributed some brilliant performances for the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 7 but is yet to make it count in the 2015 season. The biggest factor in favor of the Kerala wicket-keeper is his age which will allow him to continue for a longer duration than most others.

Apart from young players, the selectors have an alternative of senior players like Parthiv Patel & Dinesh Karthik. Both these players hold experience of ODI and Test cricket, but with them not getting any younger and a lot of encouraging talent around, it is unlikely that either Patel or Karthik will be considered.

Robin Utthapa could probably be the best pick as he holds the experience as well as tremendous amount of talent. Utthapa has always been termed as a really good T20 and ODI player. While the Karnataka batsman holds a rich capabilities of attending the duty behind the stumps. He has had a really good Ranji season and is following it up with some superb knocks for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.

Finding a replacement for Dhoni would be a tough task for BCCI and the selectors, the test team needs a revival, with the form already lying at the rock bottom, the only possible outcome from here is climbing the ladder towards improvement. The think tank will have to balance all the numbers, probabilities, possibilities, assumptions and trust one among these to guard the wickets for team India. It is an open door now and Who will stand behind the stumps for team India? only time will tell.

*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal views and opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of Cricket Tracker and CT does not assume any implied responsibility or liability for the same.