The three-match one day international (ODI) series is coming close to an end with Pakistan taking an unassailable 2-0 lead over India. With one last game left to play, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy is in jeopardy.
The huge defeat to arch rivals Pakistan in the crucial second one-dayer at the Eden Gardens on Thursday could cause the Indian skipper to step down and give way to another team-mate.
Speaking at a show on CNN IBN, former chief of selectors Kris Srikkanth said that the present Indian team looks lost and needs a change in leadership, suggesting Virat Kohli to step into Dhoni's shoes.
"I've been saying this very openly now. Dhoni should not captain during the Australia Test series and probably he's only good to captain in T20. His recent ODI record hasn't been very good and he's losing home series. I think time has come - Dhoni, the poor guy, he's done a great job in the last five years but now he's mentally and physically tired. He's batting well... let him do that and give the captaincy to Virat Kohli," he said.
Dhoni too exposed his fractration over the defeat to arch rivals Pakistan by 85 runs on Thursday by blaming the senior players for not performing.
"What the Indian team lacks is direction, motivation and inspiration. You cannot always give excuses. We have to take responsibility," Srikkanth said to CNN IBN.
Former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam thinks that India will need some years to get back the momentum following the retirement of some of its great players like Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar (ODI).
"If you lose three-four top class players, it takes time to rebuild the team. You just can't take a magic wand and get things right. It will take about 10 years to find good players," he told the Times of India. "The selectors need to be patient and have the vision to get the right replacements in place. I think India will bounce back soon."
Pakistan was restricted to 250 runs after a fantastic start on Thursday. Indian batsmen managed to score just 165 runs with two overs to spare, thus conceding defeat to the arch rivals which had last won an ODI series in India in 2005.
India has played 38 ODIs since the cricket World Cup in 2011 and the performance is not encouraging with 21 wins, 14 losts, two ties and one no-result.
