Tendulkar Not Yet Ready to Sign off Dhoni

When the Master Blaster of cricket was asked about the form and the slow batting rate of the former Indian captain MS Dhoni, Tendulkar has told that that it all depends on Dhoni’s own stand and team management’s plans.

Cricket news: Dhoni’s recent form has risen doubt about his World Cup place

While speaking to The Mumbai Mirror about Dhoni’s inclusion in the World Cup squad, Tendulkar said, “World Cup?, Well it is all up to what he (Dhoni) thinks. I don’t know what are the plans of the captain (Virat Kohli) and coach (Ravi Shastri). We are almost a year away for the World Cup, so there is a lot of time.”

Although Dhoni was considered as an automatic choice for the England and Wales World Cup 2019, mainly because of his vast experience, but his recent batting form in the ongoing England tour has risen doubts that whether he should be on the England-bound flight next year.

The 37-year-old came to the England tour after showing some brilliant batting performances for his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings as he led them to a third title victory.

But his slow batting in the last two ODI games led to India’s losing both the games, squandering a 1-0 advantage to a 2-1 series defeat.

He was even booed by his own fans while playing at Lord’s which needed the current Indian captain Virat Kohli to stand by him later.

Tendulkar, who himself was part of the six World Cups played between the period of 1992 and 2011, said that he was in no mood to sign off Dhoni at least at this stage.

Tendulkar further added, “If you have seen the recent three ODIs and Twenty20 International games, there were changes in the team that had nothing to do with the form. There could be a number of challenges for a player – some could be fitness challenges and some could be form challenges. I would just wait and watch.”

Another fact that will go in Dhoni’s favour is the absence of a perfect replacement. During the Dhoni era, India has failed to nurture a new talent mainly because of the super charismatic presence of Dhoni as a keeper, batsman as well as captain.

The 2011 World Cup-winning captain will now have some rest, as he has retired from the longer format of the game, and will use this time to regather himself and work hard to reinvent himself for the World Cup, which would definitely be his last since 2007.