Under Dhoni's leadership, India had tied the last over thriller against Afghanistan in Asia Cup 2018.
MS Dhoni had led India in a solitary game in the Asia Cup 2018 that concluded in September. Rohit Sharma, who captained the side in regular skipper Virat Kohli's absence, had sat out of the game against Afghanistan, which was a dead-rubber. Under Dhoni's leadership, the Men in Blue had tied the last over thriller.
However, a report has now claimed that one of the BCCI administrators was not happy with Dhoni’s surprise return to captaincy. In fact, the report suggests that the board official also tried to interfere in the men's team selection.
"In the match against Afghanistan, Rohit Sharma rested himself and the Indian team management decided to hand over the captaincy to MS Dhoni because of his seniority and also as a special gesture."
"A senior BCCI administrator, however, kept insisting that appointing MS would've been a regressive step and said the next senior most cricketer should lead the side. So, all this talk about outsiders not interfering is absolute nonsense. The administrator refused to give MS the captaincy which was very weird given his experience," a source was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
It was Dhoni’s 200th ODI for India as a captain. In the process, he joined the elite list of Ricky Ponting and Stephen Fleming, as only the third player to have captained his country in 200 or more ODIs.
According to the report, the BCCI administrator also intervened in team matters by ensuring that a Grade 'C' cricketer was handed a Grade 'B' contract. The unnamed cricketer, who is backed by the administrator, continues to be part of the national side, said the report.
"It was a kind of diktat. He (the unnamed cricketer) was picked for the series in England and failed but continues to be around. You should ask this administrator if there was any effort to exert influence, even if that meant dictating the team who their captain should be," the report quoted the source as saying.