Though there’s no clarity as to whether the ICC T20 World Cup is taking place this year or not, former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector is adamant that MS Dhoni should participate in India’s preparatory camp for the tournament if it is held in the coming months.
“I don’t know whether T20 World Cup is happening or not. If it is happening and you are just looking at the camp as a pre-cursor to the tournament, then MS should definitely be there. If it’s a case of bilaterals, then you already have KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson,” Prasad said.
“If I was a national selector, MS Dhoni will be in my team but the bigger question is that whether he wants to play or not. It’s what Dhoni wants at the end of the day,” he added.
Harbhajan Singh, meanwhile, wants the team to give opportunities to the younger crop like Suryakumar Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, etc. in the camp.
“I would like to see Suryakumar Yadav, the young U-19 leg-spinner (Ravi Bishnoi) and Yashasvi Jaiswal in that camp. They should get a chance to interact with the senior players. No one deserves it more than Surya, who should be in that T20 team,” Harbhajan said.
Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta asserted that the entire debate over Dhoni’s inclusion depends on the sort of Indian Premier League (IPL) season he has with Chennai Super Kings (CSK). If the 38-year-old goes on to perform, it would hard to ignore him.
“I mean if Dhoni is a part of that camp, it will be six weeks with the next batch of keepers who can pick his brains. Yes, if he is not a part of that camp, I would still not rule him out if he has a good IPL. Say he bats at No 4 for CSK and gets 500 runs, can you ignore him then?” questioned Dasgupta.
