MS Dhoni should’ve played domestic cricket to stay in contention, feels Deep Dasgupta

Dasgupta feels KL Rahul must play for India in all three formats.

Former India stumper Deep Dasgupta feels MS Dhoni missed a trick by not playing domestic cricket during his sabbatical in order to keep himself ready for an international comeback. Dhoni last played for India in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup.

Since then, he has excused himself from every series India played, with selectors giving Rishabh Pant ample opportunities to cement his place in the team. But the former India captain was looking to make his return when he joined the Chennai Super Kings’ training camp ahead of the IPL 2020.

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"See, MS Dhoni has not played competitive cricket for close to 9 months now. He played the World Cup and he has not played since. I don't know or no one has seen him play in the last 9 months. On what basis can a call be taken?" Deep Dasgupta said.

"Ideally, he should have played domestic cricket. I can understand if he did not want to play Ranji Trophy. He could have played Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. He should be playing matches. If you're talking about 9 months, then go back to 1 year, go back to 2 years. You can even bring Viru [Virender Sehwag] back you can even bring Sachin [Tendulkar] back,” Dasgupta further added.

Dasgupta felt that without the selectors seeing him play in any matches, it will be difficult for them to pick him.

"If he had played the domestic tournaments, then his time away would have been just more than 3 months. That's fine but not playing for more than 9 months, it's difficult to take a call. He has to play. If he is good enough, if he is able to do the job, then he can take his place in the side. But then again, we have not seen him play,” Dasgupta quipped.

Dasgupta also proposed for KL Rahul to be playing in all three formats for the Indian team after his impressive turn out as a wicketkeeper-batsman in recent limited-overs matches against Australia and on the tour to New Zealand. He took on the keeping gloves after Pant got injured against Australia and did such good work, that team management continued with Rahul behind the stumps.

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"KL Rahul should play all 3 formats. He is a quality batsman and a good wicketkeeper. My assessment is he is a must-have in the T20 side. Look, we are talking about 2 T20 World Cups and he is an important part of the Indian T20 side," Deep Dasgupta said to India Today.

"Rahul is too good a player to not be playing all 3 formats. In T20s, yes he can be a very good wicketkeeper-batsman -- I have been saying this for a long time. In ODIs, it's a 50-50 call. He has been doing well at No. 5 and it can be decided if he should keep wickets or not. Rahul should be playing Test cricket as well. But he is not going to keep wickets in Tests. It has to be seen how much he can play and a call on his workload should also be considered,” he signed off.

(India Today inputs)