Former captain Rahul Dravid has backed MahendraSingh Dhoni to remain in the hot seat but felt the selectors can, in the nearfuture, consider reducing the current India skipper's workload in one format toget the best out of him.
"From his own personal point of view, you also want to seethe best of Dhoni as a player. He has a lot to contribute as a batsman andwicketkeeper and we want to see the best of that," Dravid said.
"I don't think we want to lose that and if that meansat some stage, maybe the time's not right now but in the near future, we haveto relieve him of the responsibility from one format to get the best out of himas a player then I think the selectors have to take that call," he added.
Notwithstanding the eight Test defeats last year, Dravid saidDhoni should be given a chance to learn from those reverses.
"Dhoni has every right to survive it, because he'sDhoni. He has had a disappointing last year but he has won India a World Cup,we've been the No. 1 Test side under Dhoni.
"If you put pressure on him so early in the piece, orif you try to change someone like Dhoni now, I don't think you'll get to seewhat he's learned from the last year," Dravid was quoted as saying in'Cricinfo'.
Dhoni has captained India in 203 of his 318 matches acrossall formats.
The Indian great advised Dhoni that he should not just lookforward to the upcoming series against England and Australia, but also startthinking about India's overseas tours next tours.
"He has got to have an eye on some of the challenges hefaces in his career, to be seen as a good overseas captain as well. That willbe a function of the team he gets, but he's got to try and have an influence onthe kind of team he gets, the kind of personnel he wants and that's a processthat he's got to start now.
"It's a process of communication and negotiation with selectors,coaches, working on some of the skill-sets of some of the bowlers and youngbatsmen coming through on what is required in a year's time.
"So while he has a micro view of what needs to be donein these (home) series, he needs to discuss with the selectors about the kindof players he wants in South Africa and entrust them with the job of actuallyfinding those players in domestic cricket," Dravid said.
He also saw Virat Kohli as a future captain, provided he wasable to extend the success he has had for another year.
"In the next 12 months, if he has the kind of 12 monthshe has had and establishes himself in all three formats of the game, people aregoing to seriously have to look at him."