A little over 15 hours after he was axed from India’s T20I squads for the West Indies and Australia series, MS Dhoni took perhaps one of the best catches of the year by a wicket-keeper during the third India vs West Indies ODI at Pune, almost to send a reminder to the selectors that his fitness is still up to the mark if not better than any of the youngsters in the current Indian side.
India opted to field first after winning the toss. West Indies opener Chandrapaul Hemraj had just hit Bumrah for a four and a six in the sixth over to break the shackles when the latter changed his length, banged it in short that brought about a false short from Hemraj. The left-hander top-edged it and started to run with the hope of coming back for a second as the ball was certain to land in no man's land. Neither Hemraj nor the Indian fielders expected anything other than the obvious. But a 37-year-old Dhoni had other ideas. He started a sprint – one that would challenge even the best of Olympic sprinters – towards the fine leg area, kept his eyes on the ball and offered a full stretch dive to grasp the ball with both hands. India had their first breakthrough (Hemraj 15) and social media one more reason to take a dig at the selectors for dropping Dhoni for the first time in his career since making his debut in 2004.
The chairman of selectors MSK Prasad, however, has clarified that Dhoni’s T20I career is not over and the move to drop him from the next two series was to prepare the backup option ready.
When asked if Dhoni's career in T20s is over, Prasad said, "Not yet". "We want to try out other keepers for the second keeper's slot," said Prasad.
The two keepers in the two T20 squads announced Friday are Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik. The three T20s against Australia will get underway from November 21, followed by a four-Test series and three ODIs.
With Dhoni playing only seven T20Is this year and India's next ODI assignment only in January against Australia, the former captain won't be getting any domestic matches with both Vijay Hazare and Deodhar Trophy already over.