World Cup 2019: MS Dhoni is captain of all captains, says Suresh Raina

Despite quitting captaincy in 2017, Dhoni still remains the cricketing brain behind the Indian team, something even skipper Virat Kohli has acknowledged

‘Once a captain always a captain’ is what Suresh Raina feels about Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who remains a leader on the field even though not on paper. Despite quitting ODI and T20 captaincy in 2017, three years after he retired from Test cricket, Dhoni still remains the cricketing brain behind the Indian team, something even skipper Virat Kohli has acknowledged. “On paper, he's not the captain. On the ground he's the captain for Virat I think,” said Raina. “His role is still the same. He communicates with the bowlers from behind the stumps, coordinates the field placements. He's the captain of the captains. Virat feels confident when Dhoni is behind the stumps. He has always acknowledged that,” Raina added. Raina, however, said this would be a big World Cup for Kohli. “He is a confident player, captain and a team player. It's a very big World Cup for him. He knows his role well. He needs to give confidence to his players. Everything looks in our favour. Intent has to be positive. This is the best team to win the World Cup,” Raina said. He picked Hardik Pandya as the key player for India at the upcoming event. “He can field and bat well, can bowl 6-7 crucial overs. He can bat anywhere. He needs to get a lot of confidence from the management to express himself. If he can take his IPL confidence to the World Cup, he will be our gamechanger,” he said. India began their World Cup campaign on a shaky note, losing to New Zealand by six wickets in a warm-up match, and Raina feels that the teams needs to be careful against the left-arm pacers. “In our bowling line-up, we don't have any left-arm pacers. In 2011, we had Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra. They have asked Khaleel (Ahmed) to come for practice. But they need to play more left-arm pacers. Every team knows this now. Rest everything looks fine with this team,” said Raina.