The selectors wanted to sack Dhoni as captain, but Dhoni who is shrewd man just retired from the one day format and almost gave a slap to the selectors. That was surprising and a big shock to the selectors. They do not know what to do as they in fact required Dhoni as a player for the next matches which were vey tough to handle.
Former chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said that during his tenure there has been discussions on removingMahendra Singh Dhoni from captaincy but his retirement from Tests was a “shocker” for them.
Sandeep Patil also clarified that there was no truth to the perception that Dhoni was instrumental in getting rid of some of the seniors in the Indian team like Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh.
“Of course, we had a brief discussion about it (removing Dhoni from captaincy) on a few occasions. We wanted to experiment by handing the baton (to somebody) but we thought the time was not right with World Cup (2015) round the corner,” Patil told ‘ News channels .
“We felt that new captain should be given some time to set things right. Keeping that in mind in the World Cup, we had gone with Dhoni. I believe Virat got the captaincy at the right time. Virat can lead the team in shorter formats as well but that decision rests with the new selection committee,” said Patil, who completed his term only nine days back.
Patil termed Dhoni’s decision to retire from Tests as “shocking” as the team was having a tough Test series Down Under.
“It was a very tough series. I won’t say Dhoni was captain of a sinking ship but things quite didn’t move in our favour. And in this backdrop, one of your senior players decides to retire.
That was shocking but at the end of the day, it was his (Dhoni’s) personal decision,” he said. But Dhoni is Dhoni once again there is discussion across the world about his capabilities as his movie is already making waves in the industry.
