‘A wildcard entry’: Former Indian cricketers want MS Dhoni in India T20 World Cup squad
CSK batter MS Dhoni (Source: BCCI)
Impressed by the superlative returns from 42-year-old MS Dhoni at the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season, former Indian cricketers Irfan Pathan and Varun Aaron have kickstarted the discussion about including the veteran leader in the T20 squad for the World Cup.
The Indian team desperately needs someone who can score big runs inthe death overs and notmany have been better at doing that than Dhoni.
"We could see a wildcard entry in India's T20 World Cup squad… MS Dhoni," Aaron said on Star Sports, labelling the suggestion as "the wildest card."
Pathan, part of the winning 2007 WC squad, echoed Aaron's statement and added:"If he says he wants to play the T20 World Cup, no one will deny him that chance...no one will mind, no one will have a problem with it. The guy is batting so well."
Though both the ex-pros made the statement in zest, there is no indication that Dhoni will return to the international arena. The former Indian captain retired from international cricket after the 2019 World Cup and has been happy playing for his beloved Chennai Super Kings (CSK), once a year fora two-month period.
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Dhoni to un-retire himself?
After winning the title with CSK last year, there were speculations that Dhoni was about to hang his boots in the franchise tournament as well. However, upon being quizzed about his future after the final,Dhoni said he wanted to come back for the fans one more time.
“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 ninemonths and come back and play at least onemore season of IPL," Dhoni said at the time.
Consequently,Dhoni underwenta kneesurgery and a significant rehabilitation process to be ready for the 2024 season. Despite playing no professional cricket since last year, Dhoni has been one of the most dangerous death-over batters in the league, which has led to suggestions that he un-retire himself for the WC.
India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad is expected to be out later this month. All the participatingteams have to share their provisional squad by early May. Currently, the likes of Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya are being touted to perform the finishing duties by the team management.
(With inputs from agencies)