'Apart From Being An Automatic Choice...': Ex-Selector On Why Dhoni Was Made Captain

Under the leadership of Dhoni, his IPL team CSK won the IPL 2023 title, clinching the trophy for the record 5th time.

MS Dhoni during the IPL 2023 game.

Source : Getty

The last time the Indian team won any ICC event was back in 2013 as they won the ICC Champions Trophy under the leadership of MS Dhoni. Since then, team India has not won any ICC trophy as they lost four ICC finals and even bowed out in the semi-finals on as many occasions. After taking the leadership onus from Dhoni, Virat Kohli did try to take Indian cricket to new heights in longest format of the game but then he also failed to guide the to an ICC title. The Indian team led by Rohit Sharma also lost the World Test Championship (WTC) final to Australia.

However, Men in Blue did perform well in the bilateral events, and the wait for the ICC trophy still goes on. Ever since Dhoni called it as a skipper, the Indian team has not been able to like him. Amid all the chaos, former India Bhupinder Singh Sr disclosed why BCCI decided to appoint Dhoni as skipper.

"Apart from being an automatic choice in the team, you look at the player's cricketing acumen, body language, ability to lead from the front and man management skills. We saw Dhoni's approach to the game, body language, how he spoke to others; we got a positive feedback," Singh spoke to Hindustan Times in an interview.

Under the leadership of Dhoni, his IPL team CSK won the IPL 2023 title, clinching the trophy for the record 5th time.  Despite sustaining a knee injury, the veteran player played the entire season with heavy strapping on his knee.

Dhoni said while talking to Harsha Bhogle at the post-match presentation said, "Circumstantially, if you see, this is the best time to announce my retirement. But the amount of love and affection I have been shown wherever I have been this year, the easy thing would be for me to say 'Thank you very much', but the tough thing for me is to work hard for another nine months and come back and play at least one more season of IPL”.