MS Dhoni explains the exclusion of Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan

MS Dhoni

Indian captain MS Dhoni has explained the rationale behind leaving out Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan ahead of today’s must-win game against New Zealand which they eventually lost and ended up conceding the series as well.

Speaking at the press conference, Dhoni said: “At some point of time, we had to make this change.

“Raina was getting good starts but he was not able to convert those starts. I thought maybe at times if you take the individual away for a few games, he can relax and think freely about his game and that’s the reason why I rested both Dhawan and Raina in this game.

But we committed the same mistakes when it comes to the batting department. We lost wickets at crucial times, that has been the case so far in this series. But even then, we were able to get close to 280 which I thought was good enough provided we bowled well on this wicket, but that was not the case.”

With Shikhar Dhawan too missing out, Virat Kohli was promoted up the batting order to the opening slot. He faced the new ball partnering Rohit Sharma. Kohli was chosen as an opener ahead of Ajinkya Rahane who is a natural to the position.

“Initially, Jinks came in as opener but later we had a chat with the selectors, about a few months ago,” opined Dhoni.

“He was termed as a middle-order batsman unless we want to try him as an opener. But we have already tried him as an opener and he is good in the middle order, so we should keep trying him in the middle order rather than push him up. T20 is a different scenario, if he wants to open. But as of now, he will be a middle order batsman for the team.

“As for Kohli opening, we had a chat with him. He was confident. He said he would like to open. It fitted well for us. If he bats as opener, Jinks comes in as No. 3, Rayudu can bat at No. 4. So the strength of the side remains quite same. But Virat opening is a short-term move, it’s nothing beyond this series.”