There isn’t much that can keep the likes of former India captain MS Dhoni out of Indian headlines for long. Despite the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic occupying most of the front-page; Dhoni’s name, one-way or another, has this knack of finding its way into the news. On Wednesday, former Baroda Ranji Trophy legend Wasim Jaffer posted a tweet, emphasizing on the valuable-skill-sets the 38-year old ‘keeper-batsman continues to offer.
Interestingly, Jaffer’s post came moments after former India opener Virender Sehwag presented a contrasting opinion on the question. In a recent interview with India.com, Sehwag had asked, “Where will he [MS Dhoni] fit in?”. Further, he elaborated on the team’s incumbent wicket-keeping options. “Pant and Rahul are already doing a great job in the team. Rahul especially, showed fantastic form in the last couple of matches he played. I don’t see a reason to move away from them”, Sehwag opined.
Jaffer, in his opinion, believes that Dhoni’s inclusion would bless the team with an invaluable wicket-keeping ‘asset’; not to mention, an extremely skillful middle-order batsman. The 42-year old concluded his tweet by proposing a situation where each of Rahul, Pant and Dhoni feature in the playing XI. The opportunity to include the left-handed Pant, as Jaffer highlights, goes to show the balance MSD adds to the side.
If Dhoni is fit and in form I think we can't look beyond him as he'll be an asset behind the stumps and also lower down the order. It'll take the pressure of keeping off Rahul and India can play Pant as a batsman too if they want a lefty. #Dhoni #MSDhoni #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/6ndDfdhkap
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) March 18, 2020
The wait lengthens for Dhoni and his fans
Jaffer, and a big-number of other fellow ‘Mahi’ fans have eagerly been waiting to see MSD take the cricket-field after nearly 8-months of absence. The 2011-World Cup winning captain hasn’t played a single match since the heartbreaking semi-final loss against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup. Off the field, Dhoni had been training with his parachute-regiment in the Kashmir valley for some-time before taking a break. In fact, the list of centrally-contracted players the BCCI released earlier this year doesn’t even features Dhoni’s name.
Despite all those factors, fans seem confident of Dhoni playing a second innings for the national team; India head-coach Ravi Shastri had even mentioned that Dhoni’s could still warrant selection in the squad for the World T20 squad scheduled in Australia on October this year, on merit of IPL performances. Unfortunately, the wait for Dhoni to make a comeback has extended to a minimum by 15-days, after the BCCI postponed the IPL 2020 to April in wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile, Jaffer, who recently ended his Ranji-Trophy career as one of the all-time greats; seems to be enjoying his new-found post-retirement life. The former Vidarbha-batsman had his own responsibilities in the upcoming edition of the IPL as Kings XI Punjab’s batting coach.