MS Dhoni's retirement speculations have been making the headlines ever since India’s ouster from World Cup last month. The veteran wicketkeeper recently missed the limited-overs series against West Indies as he took a sabbatical from the game to serve his paramilitary regiment.
While there is no clarity on his immediate cricket future, a report published in PTI claims that Dhoni is unlikely to be selected for India’s three-match T20I series against South Africa at home, starting September 15 in Dharamsala.
The team for the series is expected to be picked on September 4. In all probability, the squad that whitewashed West Indies 3-0 earlier this month is likely to be retained as the selection committee wants to continue building towards next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
“There are only 22 T20 Internationals before India play their first World T20 game and selectors are clear in their vision that it’s time to move forward. They are planning on getting a pool of three keepers ready for limited overs, especially T20s,” a senior BCCI official privy to developments in selection committee told PTI.
It is still not clear whether the BCCI brass or the selection panel will speak to Dhoni to enquire about his future plans.
“Retirement is an individual decision and selectors or for that matter, no one has any right to decide on that front. But they have every right to decide the roadmap for the 2020 World T20 and that’s to give Rishabh Pant maximum chances,” the official explained.
Pant had a decent T20I series in West Indies. The southpaw played an unbeaten knock of 65 in the third match to help India chase the target of 147 after the visitors lost their first two wickets for just 27 runs.
While Pant remains the first choice, it is learnt that the second and third option for the selection committee is Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan respectively.
A few members of the selection committee will be in Thiruvananthapuram for the A series and Samson’s performance will be keenly observed.
As far as batting is concerned, the selection committee believes that Samson is ready for top-level cricket but his wicket-keeping is still work in progress.
“Pant scored a fifty in the last T20 that he played. Ishan Kishan is in the A set-up. Do we even have an option of looking back when we need consistent big hitters on big Australian grounds?” the official questioned.
(With PTI inputs)
