Gautam Gambhir questions MS Dhoni's captaincy decisions

Days after announcing his retirement from professional cricket, former India batsman Gautam Gambhir has pointed his fingers at MS Dhoni's captaincy during the 2012 Commonwealth Bank tri-series in Australia.

Prior to the start of the series, the former Indian skipper was quite vocal about having Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virender Sehwag in the same XI as it might cost some runs for the team on the field. After rotating them throughout the tournament, Dhoni played all three of them in the team's last league game against Sri Lanka in Hobart, which was a must-win game as the team needed to win the match the match with a bonus point and ended up winning it with ease, thanks to a swashbuckling 133* off just 86 balls from Virat Kohli.

Talking to India Today, Gambhir admitted that it came as a shock to him when he heard this and he felt that if a player is good enough to score runs and not a liability on the field, he can play as much as he wants.

"In the 2012 Tri-series in Australia, Dhoni declared that he can't play all three (Gambhir, Sachin and Sehwag) of us together as he was looking ahead at the 2015 World Cup. It was a massive shock, I think it would have been a massive shock for any cricketer. I have not heard anyone be told in 2012 that they would never be a part of the 2015 World Cup. I always had the impression that if you keep scoring runs, age is a just a number. If you have the skills to score the runs and you are not a liability on the field, you can go on to play as long as you want," Gambhir said.

He also questioned his decision to play all three together again and indicated that one of the two decisions he made was wrong.

"This was always told to us and even in Australia we got to know that all the three can't play together, and we eventually got to play together. At the start of the series, we didn't play together, it was a rotation thing. When it was a desperate moment, MS had to play three of us. If you take a decision, back your decision, stick to it. Don't back on something on which you have already decided.

"First, you decided that you won't play the three of us together, then you decided that you are going to play the three of us together. Either the original decision was wrong, or the second decision was wrong. He took that decision as a captain and it was a shock to all three of us," he added.

Chasing 321 in just 40 overs for a bonus point, India reached 50 in just six overs, thanks to Sehwag's 16-ball 30 and Sachin's 30-ball 39. While Kohli was sending the Lankan bowlers on a leather hunt, it was Gambhir, who played the role of a sheet anchor before he was run out for 63 off 64 balls. After Gambhir's dismissal, Kohli and Suresh Raina ensured that they took the team home in the 37th over.