The popular spin bowler, Erapalli Prasanna opines that, captaincy should be taken away from Dhoni and Virat Kohli should be opted in its position.
Prasanna wants the decision to be reassessed, though in the past, it has already been announced that, Dhoni will lead India in the World T20 in March-April. India lost last three ODI series under Dhoni captaincy.
Expressing his opinion, Prasanna said, “I think the time has come to make Kohli captain in all three formats. Dhoni is 33-34 now and there has to be a change in captaincy at some point so why not now? He can keep playing as a player. Ultimately, it is Dhoni who will take the call. If you ask me, let him keep the wickets and give Kohli the charge right away. It is in the team's interest.”
Answering to the question, whether Dhoni can go on as a player in the team, Prasanna said, “If you look at the overall scenario, he may be a better batsman than Saha but wicket-keeping wise Saha is equally good. Perhaps Dhoni can carry on and you can still expect a 30-40 run innings from him in the slog overs.”
Prasanna said Dhoni has been found wanting in the ongoing series in Australia, with the hosts fancying a 5-0 whitewash of India in the fifth ODI in Sydney today.
"Some of the selection choices have been baffling to be honest. Dropping your number one bowler (R Ashwin) in the last two games was beyond logic. If he was around in the third ODI (at Melbourne), India could have built more pressure with Jadeja bowling well from the other end. Instead, Dhoni took Jadeja off the attack soon after he removed Steve Smith. It was surely questionable,” Prasanna said.
Prasanna further said that, he did not get the logic behind dropping Manish Pandey, after the first two ODIs and picking Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Rishi Dhawan for the following two matches.
“Manish hardly got time to prove himself and then you picked Gurkeerat and Rishi, both pretty mediocre players. If you look at the the bench strength, it is nowhere near international standards. If you drop Ashwin and put players like Rishi, you are not expected to win. It seems the only way India can win right now is if they get a slow turner,” Prasanna added.
By Phani Ch
