The exclusion of former Indian captain MS Dhoni from India's T20I squad generated a lot of polarising opinions. Reports also suggest that the selectors have informed Dhoni that they have decided to move on from him in the shortest format.
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly believes that the selectors were right in making this decision and that Dhoni's exclusion from the T20I setup is not very surprising at all.
"I am not surprised that MS Dhoni has been dropped from the T20 squad because his performance hasn't been great. If you see the 2020 World T20, I don't think Dhoni will play that far and that's why the selectors have given chance to Rishabh Pant who is in a good form," Ganguly told IndiaTV.
However, Ganguly believes that the selectors reasoning of resting Dhoni from the T20I squad was not entirely convincing as the seasoned campaigner needs as much match practice as possible before the 2019 World Cup.
'I think he should be given enough matches'
"I have one issue here... I feel if the selectors are going to stick with Dhoni till the 2019 World Cup, then I think he should be given enough matches. He doesn't play domestic cricket so after the last ODI against West Indies, Dhoni will next play in Australia in the ODI series and after that against New Zealand. That's a long gap in cricket," Ganguly added.
Ever since Dhoni has given up red ball cricket, he has not turned up for Jharkhand in Ranji Trophy and this is where Ganguly believes that the selectors should have a word with him and ask him to play for Jharkhand in the upcoming season in order to get practice and game time to fine tune his game.
"The selectors should ask him to play in Ranji Trophy so that he stays in touch with the game and regains his form back. You might be a big player but if you don't play regularly, you will end up losing your touch," he said.
MS Dhoni's form with the bat has been patchy in the recent past and despite the fact, that the team management wants him in the side for the 2019 World Cup, he has to find form sooner rather than later as his presence in the middle order should be a solution and not a problem leading into the World Cup.
