According to former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif, MS Dhoni’s absence as India’s skipper cannot be an excuse for the Men in Blue for not performing well in ICC events. Earlier, under the captaincy of Dhoni, the Indian team sealed the T20 World Cup in 2007, and the ODI World Cup in 2011 and went on to add the ICC Champions Trophy to their kitty in 2013.
But since then, Team India completely failed to clinch any ICC trophy in the last ten years. Speaking about the same, Kaif stated that Dhoni has an impeccable record as a captain of India but the India team cannot give an excuse for not having him around. According to him, they have a legendary player Rahul Dravid who can add the same amount of experience.
“Dhoni has done well. I believe the likes of Rohit Sharma and all these guys are good captains. You have Rahul Dravid as a coach, what else do you want? Ya, you miss Dhoni because he has done so well in ICC events but I think someone like Rohit Sharma can take the team forward. He has got the players and the team to win ICC events,” Kaif was quoted as saying on 'Virtual Encounters' on DD India.
Kaif also talked about a few decisions by the Indian team management including picking Ravichandran Ashwin over Yuzvendra Chahal in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
“They have made mistakes, you went to Australia, you picked Ashwin ahead of Chahal. Chahal was in your scheme of things in T20Is. You dropped Chahal and picked Ashwin. So you have been making all these basic mistakes. That's why you talk about MS Dhoni because he knows who to play in the first XI. The major strength of Dhoni is backing his players. I think that's what the Indian team is probably missing right now,” Kaif said.
Currently, the Indian team is set to face West Indies in two-Tests, three One-Day-Internationals (ODIs), and a five-match T20 International series, starting from July 12.