The national selection committee was left deeply embarrassed after Mahendra Singh Dhoni declined to play Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-finals for Jharkhand on Sunday despite chairman MSK Prasad’s public announcement couple of days back. The current fiasco now completely established that there is no communication between the selectors and senior players, who decide their own schedule.
It was only on Thursday that the Chief selector MSK Prasad, after announcing the Indian squad for only the first two ODI matches of the series against West Indies at home, confirmed that MS Dhoni will feature in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018 quarterfinal round for Jharkhand. However, the state team coach clarified on Saturday that Dhoni has refused to play the Sunday game for although a touching gesture, but in turn, left the national selectors red-faced.
“Dhoni feels that it would not be fair for him to join us at this stage, given that the team has done so well and reached the quarter-final stage in his absence. He does not want to upset the team balance,” Jharkhand coach Kumar said.
The fiasco has now raised questions on whether Prasad actually had a word with Dhoni before making it official to media. “I would love to know how MSK Prasad gets in touch with Dhoni,” a senior BCCI official told. “Last heard, even VVS Laxman didn’t get a chance to speak to Dhoni before announcing his retirement. Hope he is telling the truth.”
