Picture Credit: Twitter
The cricket fraternity was heartbroken when MS Dhoni had called time on his international career with a sudden announcement on social media on August 15 last year. The fans and analysts were expecting that the legendary player would at least feature in the T20 World Cup, postponement of which saw Dhoni hanging up his boots at the highest level. However, on Wednesday night, the news of the former skipper getting appointed as Team India's mentor for T20 World Cup 2021 saw people rejoicing.
Dhoni is the captain who helped India win the T20 World Cup title in the inaugural edition of the mega event in 2007. Later, under his captaincy, Team India entered the final of the tournament in 2014 and played the semifinal in 2016. It is worth noting that the retired international cricketer is the only captain to win all the ICC tournaments- T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup (2011) and Champions Trophy (2013).
BCCI's decision of appointing Dhoni as mentor was hailed across social media. Meanwhile, Suresh Raina, former India cricketer and one of the names always associated to MS Dhoni, also expressed his happiness on the decision of the apex cricket governing body of India, terming it a "fabulous decision" on Twitter. He sent his best wishes to Team India before being happy on the selection of Ravichandran Ashwin in the final 15-member squad.
Here is the tweet:
Spoke to captain and vice captain about Dhoni's appointment and everyone agreed: BCCI secretary
"(I) spoke to him in Dubai. He agreed to be mentor for WT20 only and I discussed with my colleagues and all are on same page. I spoke to captain (Virat Kohli) and vice captain (Rohit Sharma) and everyone agreed," said BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a press conference on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, talking about Ravichandran Ashwin, BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma hinted that the spinner has been picked on the basis of his impressive IPL performance in the recent years. Moreover, Washington Sundar's injured further paved way for the world-class spinner.
“See, Ravichandran Ashwin has been regularly playing the IPL. We have seen how well he has performed and definitely when we go to the World Cup, we need an off-spinner, everyone has idea that in Dubai and UAE, the later half of IPL will be played, so wickets might be low and slow, which will aid the spinners…," said Chetan Sharma on Wednesday.
“…so it is necessary to have an off-spinner in the team, and because Washington Sundar is injured and Ashwin is an asset to the team and the way he has performed in the IPL, he has got place in the team,” he added.