Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has not included Mahendra Singh Dhoni in his preferred XI from among those who played the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. He also didn't have Virat Kohli as the captain of this team.
Tendulkar had New Zealand captain Kane Williamson as the skipper of his side and included five Indians in his team. Indian opener Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah feature in this line-up.
The legendary batsman chose Rohit Sharma and English batsman Jonny Bairstow as the opening pair followed by captain Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli. Little Master chose four all-rounders for his World Cup XI. It includes Shakib Al Hasan, Hardik Pandya, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja. In the bowling department, he went with Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Starc to lead the attack along with Jofra Archer.
Tendulkar not taking Dhoni in his team is not a major shock according to the current scenario of Indian cricket. Throughout the World Cup, Dhoni was criticised by many fans and former cricketers for scoring at a slow rate in most of the matches. The World Cup-winning captain could not perform up to expectations as a finisher and it looked like age has taken a toll on him.
Sachin himself has been very critical about MSD's performance in the World Cup. He mildly criticised the 38-year-old wicket-keeper batsman when the latter played an innings at a very slow pace against minnows Afghanistan which could have resulted in India's defeat at the hands of the minnows. Similarly, against England also, Dhoni could not finish off the game like he used to do before.
The Men in Blue eventually crashed out of the World Cup, losing to New Zealand in the semi-finals by 18 runs. The Indian middle-order got exposed against the Kiwis thanks to their pace bowling.
