Veteran Indian cricketer Ashish Nehra has come to the defence of former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni after he was dropped from team’s T20I squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against West Indies and Australia.
Nehra believes MS Dhoni is still an integral part of Indian dressing room despite his struggle with the bat in the last few months. Nehra also backed Dhoni for doing well in Australia.
“Yes, there is Rishabh Pant, there is Dinesh Karthik, who has done reasonably well, but MS Dhoni is MS Dhoni. Nobody comes close to him, not only as a cricketer but the kind of aura he has it is a great help to somebody (Yuzvendra) Chahal, to Kuldeep (Yadav) Jasprit Bumrah and most importantly to Virat Kohli. MS Dhoni knows what he is doing. Although he wasn’t that good in Asia Cup and this series what he would have liked to have but still he has two months. I am sure that he will do well in Australia, so we shouldn’t worry about MS Dhoni,” Ashish Nehra told Cricketnext.
Despite Dhoni being the first choice as the wicket-keeper batsman in ODIs, his dismal show with the bat is a concern for Men in Blue as India prepare for upcoming ICC 2019 ODI World cup. In his last 18 matches, Dhoni has scored just 252 runs, his average is 25.20 in ODIs. It is also Dhoni’s worst year in terms of batting average.
The calendar year 2018 is only the second time (the other being 2016) when Dhoni is averaging below 40.00.
So far in the ongoing calendar year, Dhoni has failed in scoring fifty and his strike rate is worst among wicket-keepers in international cricket for 2018.