BCCI administrator objected to MS Dhoni captaining India against Afghanistan in Asia Cup

It’s over a decade since the ugly Ganguly-Chappell episode had tainted Indian cricket. The ghosts of ‘dishonouring senior players’ came to haunt the country’s cricket again after a scathing letter from former Women’s team captain Mithali Raj to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about her alleged mistreatment went viral. And now, yet another revelation has been made and it is about a board administrator’s displeasure with MS Dhoni captaining India in the ODI game against Afghanistan during the Asia Cup in September.

India went to play the tournament in the United Arab Emirates under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, who chipped in as regular skipper Virat Kohli was rested after a gruelling tour of England. After India qualified for the final by winning back-to-back games against Bangladesh and Pakistan in the Super Four stage of the tournament, both Rohit and his deputy in the competition Shikhar Dhawan chose to skip the inconsequential game against Afghanistan in Dubai.

This paved the way for MS Dhoni to lead the side and it also became his 200th game as the captain of India in the ODIs and was only the third player after Australia’s Ricky Ponting and New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming to do so.

BCCI administrator wanted next senior man to lead team

Though the fans were happy with the former World Cup-winning captain achieving the milestone, not everyone was happy with it. According to a TOI report, a BCCI administrator was not okay with Dhoni being given the captaincy and wanted the next senior player in the squad to do the job. He had stepped down from captaining India in January 2017. The 37-year-old has led India to 110 wins in 200 matches while five matches were tied.

“In the match against Afghanistan, Rohit Sharma rested himself and the Indian team management decided to hand over the captaincy to MS Dhoni because of his seniority and also as a special gesture. A senior BCCI administrator, however, kept insisting that appointing MS would’ve been a regressive step and said the next senior most cricketer should lead the side,” the source said.

“So, all this talk about outsiders not interfering is absolute nonsense. The administrator refused to give MS the captaincy which was very weird given his experience,” the source added.

Dhoni though could not lead India to a win in his 200th game as the captain as the thrilling game ended in a tie. Rohit was back to the helm for the final against Bangladesh and guided India to their seventh Asia Cup title.

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