With the Indian team down 0-1 against Australia in the ODI series, the BCCI has decided to announce the list of centrally-contracted players for 2019-2020. The biggest stunner is the omission of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was in the `7 crore elite group.
The last on Dhoni’s international career has not been heard, but on field India will have to do what Australia did to them last year, winning a five-match series after losing the first two matches, if they have to win the ongoing three-match series by winning the last two.
India performed a similar act in Australia last January, winning the series after losing the first match in Sydney and winning handsomely in Adelaide and Melbourne.
The 10-wicket loss in the first ODI can be shattering, even though Virat Kohli does not want fans to get disheartened and panic. The nature of defeat raises questions all of a sudden. First, they never looked like reaching 250 after a middle-order slump till Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami gave them something defend with a plucky last-wicket stand. Then they were dazed to see Aaron Finch and David Warner
knock off the runs without being separated.
India must be wondering whether they should still go with three pacers on Friday or have a third spinner. Hardik Pandya’s absence is upsetting the balance of the side. Even the spinners did not hit the right lines, save Kuldeep’s first over to Finch. It would be unfair to single out third pacer Shardul Thakur and replace him with Navdeep Saini, who did well in the T20 series against Sri Lanka.
Jasprit Bumrah and Shami have to provide breakthroughs, just like Rohit Sharma and Kohli have to get big runs. Both give their partners enough time to settle down with their calculated hitting. In the first match, Shikhar Dhawan filled inadequately for Rohit, who could not get going. KL Rahul must learn to build big instead of finding different ways to get out, playing fancy shots when he should be consolidating the position.
There had been talks that India should ask Rahul to keep wickets, to give a better balance to the XI by either including an extra batsman in Manish Pandey or all-rounder Kedar Jadhav. As luck would have it, Rishabh Pant has to sit out due to concussion after being hit on the helmet. It cannot be a permanent arrangement even though Rahul’s place is also iffy with Dhawan returning to form.Rahul’s place has created another headache for the team management as he had to bat at No 3 pushing Kohli to 4. Kohli himself seems to feel that he should bat at 3. One loss and more than one issue seem to be confronting Kohli.
Clear air on MS future
Coming to Dhoni’s future, it is not clear what forced the selectors or the board to decide it’s time for him to pack up. Did the selectors or the BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly discuss the matter with the great man? There is no clarity.
All one gets to know is what Ravi Shastri recently said that Dhoni will decide on the T20 World Cup after playing in the Indian Premier League and the form he shows with the bat. The other cryptic statement came from chief selector MSK Prasad, who said “we are moving on, we are very clear.” Then Ganguly said he would discuss it with Dhoni and the selectors.
The clearest statement came from Prasad who said the selectors are looking at Pant. For good measure, he also stated that the selectors had a talk with Dhoni and that he also endorsed their view.Why could it not be put in clearer terms by Dhoni, Ganguly and selectors? The question is whether Dhoni informed them of his unavailability for the recent series at home or the selectors on their own decided to leave him out? Either way, the board should clear the air.
(The writer is a veteran commentator. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at sveturi@gmail.com)