4 reasons why dropping MS Dhoni may not yield great results

On September 24, 2007, the world saw India lift the cricket's youngest child, the T20 World Cup and it changed Indian cricket by a long way. From being villains for getting knocked out in the group stages of the 50-over World Cup to be treated like the gods for winning 20 over World Cup, the world saw the two extremes of Indian fans in the gap of six months.

One man was at the helm of affairs when this turn around happened, and no one who could find the reason behind this massive change of fortunes. It was because of the contrasting styles between his looks & playing style and his character as a person. Every time when that long-haired youngster with swag came out to bat, he smashed the bowlers all over the park. But when he captained the side, he was as calm as a priest in a meditation

He continued with those contrasting styles winning trophies and racking up success in domestic and international arena, while the cricketing world failed to read his mind. For 11 years he made T20 format his own with weirdest of strategies like winning a World T20 in 2007 with a team whose average age was 26 and winning an IPL in 2018 whose average age is 34. Only one name is common on both the occasions and that is Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Now, that name is missing from India's T20 squad. As always, eyebrows have been raised for this decision and everyone are realizing the fact that the last chapters of India's most successful captain are being written now. No one is bigger than the nation, but does this decision serves the nation better?

Let us look into 4 reasons why dropping MS Dhoni may not yield great results.

#1 Deprives Dhoni's match time

Dhoni hasn't been at his usual best with the bat in the recent years. Major reason has been his lack of match time. Post his test retirement, his batting hasn't created great impact as it usually does, and it was all due to his reduced playing days. We all saw his exploits for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2018, where he started off slowly but kept batting higher up the order and with that match time he again became an irresistible force with the bat. It was pure joy to watch him hit those huge sixes and finishing off matches out of nowhere.

But when it comes to Team India, the management is reluctant to send him higher up the order despite Dhoni being vocal about it. With a dominant top three that India has, he hardly gets game time to bat. He did get few opportunities to bat more overs, he did bail India out of trouble against New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies in the last one year.

But he has failed on a few occasions, and come the World Cup, he can't afford to make such a mistake. So, it is highly advisable to give him that match time and try getting him into that groove.

#2 Two years left for next T20 World Cup

The reason that was given for the dropping MSD is that they are looking for the wicketkeeper for the next World T20. It is being scheduled to happen in November 2020 in Australia which is two years away. The players who are in contention for Dhoni's spot does have long time to stake claim a berth. Rishab Pant and Dinesh Karthik are Wicketkeepers for their respective IPL sides. Karthik made his debut before Dhoni did and has been there for long enough time to judge his keeping credentials. He has been keeping for his state side Tamil Nadu and even for his TNPL side

Rishabh, on the other hand, is a pure talent with the bat. Although he had a tough time as a keeper in England, he is going to improve with time and with longer stints in the Test arena and he will grow by leap and bounds. Having said this, even if they keep for these six matches can we judge their keeping abilities. With less than 8 months for the World Cup, we must fix everything for this quadrennial event before even looking out for 2020.

#3 Numbers of MSD in T20Is since 2017

Several voices have been raised against Dhoni's inability to hit the straps straightaway. They also blame him for playing too many dot balls, as a result, reduces the team's scoring rate and his strike-rate. But numbers show that he is second to none in all those aspects as far as T20Is are concerned. In fact, his strike rate of 143.67 is the best among wicketkeepers since 2017 (min. 150 runs). He has achieved this despite playing the second most number of matches in the concerned period.

He is far ahead when it comes to average in the same time period with him scoring 41.67 per game while the second best is his Afghanistan counterpart Mohammad Shahzad with 35. Even his six hitting ability hasn't diminished with him behind only to Shahzad.

Comparing numbers, he is far ahead of other international keepers like Jos Buttler, Quinton de Kock and Mushfiqur Rahim. Dhoni has set his standards very high that, critics and selectors aren't happy with these numbers which are still better than the rest. Everybody would love to have such an impactful player on their side.

#4 Dhoni's irreplaceable experience

Talking about pure impact, no one has had more impact than this man in international cricket. When every cricketing nation goes through a downslide during the transition phase when greats of the game retire. Despite the retirement of great ODI players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, India always remained a force in limited overs format. That has been due to his experience in handling players and situations.

We have been seeing how he runs live tutorial classes on spinning bowling to Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal during every game. We have witnessed the growth of them and even they give a major credit MSD for the same. Even fast bowlers have followed his piece of advice and reaped success with young Khaleel being the latest entrant. Moreover, when it comes to death overs he has been setting fields and ringing in changes which has helped Bhuvi & Bumrah to be a potent death bowling pair.

These T20Is could be a test of character for the death bowlers, as India hasn't had the best of time against Windies in T20Is. Dhoni's inputs here would not only be valuable to win this series but also, perhaps, the World Cup in June. In the last few ICC tournaments, India have had instances when they have lost in the finals or semi-finals due to one or two no-balls. Dhoni, being a shrewd reader of the game, might be able to find the reason and hence correct those small loopholes before the mega event.