Sehwag questioned what made Dhoni pick Rahane in the CSK XI.
His comments came after Ajinkya Rahane made his Chennai Super Kings (CSK) debut under Dhoni’s captaincy in style. He smashed a 19-ball fifty and 61 in 27 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes as CSK chased down MI’s 157 with ease and won the match by 7 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
Rahane was bought by CSK in the auction preceding the 2023 season in December for his base price (INR 50 lakh). Rahane had played much of his international cricket under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, debuting in 2011, and last played an ODI in 2018 and a Test in 2022.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag had a rather blunt question for Dhoni over Rahane's place in the CSK side. He asked what Dhoni saw in Rahane to play him in his CSK team, while couldn’t give the Mumbai batter chances when he was captaining the Indian team.
“What did he see in Ajinkya Rahane that he kept him in the IPL team, but didn't play him for India? Players need confidence. But I'm asking Captain Dhoni. When he was the captain of the Indian team, he didn't keep him in the one-day team, saying ‘he is slow. He can’t rotate strike. Now, suddenly, when he needed experience, he brought in Ajinkya Rahane,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Sehwag was right as Rahane last played a T20I for India in 2016 as the semi-final of the T20 World Cup that year against West Indies, was his last outing in the shortest format and MS Dhoni was captaining the side at the time.