‘You have Rahul Dravid as a coach, what else do you want?’ - Mohammad Kaif rubbishes claims of India missing MS Dhoni in ICC tournaments

Former India international Mohammad Kaif has pointed out that the current Indian team has Rahul Dravid as the head coach and thus, they should not feel the absence of MS Dhoni. Notably, under the leadership of the 42-year-old Dhoni, the Men in Blue found enormous success as they won the T20 World Cup in 2007, the ODI World Cup in 2011 and went on to add the ICC Champions Trophy to their kitty in 2013.

Since then, India have failed to win any ICC trophy in the last decade and thus, the team missing Dhoni has always been a point of discussion.

Talking about the same, Kaif pointed out that Dhoni has done tremendously well in major tournaments but India can’t afford to give the excuse of not having him in the mix anymore as he believes that Rahul Dravid, the current head coach can offer the same thing. He also went on to add that Rohit Sharma has the much-needed experience and can take the team forward in ICC tournaments.

“Dhoni has done well. I believe the likes of Rohit Sharma and all these guys are good captains. You have Rahul Dravid as a coach, what else do you want? Ya, you miss Dhoni because he has done so well in ICC events but I think someone like Rohit Sharma can take the team forward. He has got the players and the team to win ICC events,” the cricketer-turned-commentator told during an interaction on 'Virtual Encounters' on DD India.

Kaif points out India’s mistake in ICC tournaments

Citing the example of picking Ravichandran Ashwin over Yuzvendra Chahal in the 2022 T20 World Cup, Kaif pointed out the basic mistakes that the team management has committed in the past few years. He also added that MS Dhoni used to back his cricketers through thicks and thins and something that’s not very common in Indian cricket at the moment.

“They have made mistakes, you went to Australia, you picked Ashwin ahead of Chahal. Chahal was in your scheme of things in T20Is. You dropped Chahal and picked Ashwin. So you have been making all these basic mistakes. That's why you talk about MS Dhoni because he knows who to play in the first XI. The major strength of Dhoni is backing his players. I think that's what the Indian team is probably missing right now,” Kaif said.