Dhoni’s presence in the team itself is a huge boost: Rohit Sharma

MS Dhoni the most capped Indian T20I player isn’t playing the format any more. The decision was made just ahead of the recently concluded T20I series against Windies. He doesn’t feature in the team for the Australia series either. Though the selection committee had its reasons to opt for other names, the stand-in skipper for the series Rohit Sharma certainly missed the veteran’s presence.

Dhoni hasn’t retired from T20I cricket but the selectors are certain he will not be in the picture for the next World T20 in 2020. They thus want to give Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant enough opportunities to take over the full-time keeping responsibility. Though the two are really potent batsmen on a given day they still have a long way to go before being in Dhoni’s league as far as the skills behind the wickets are concerned.

Dhoni was a big miss

After the conclusion of the T20I series that Team India won 3-0 Rohit mentioned that Dhoni wasn’t a part of the team for the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka where he led the troops either. One thing he has realized is not just him but a lot of players especially the youngsters miss the former skipper’s presence.

“MS (Dhoni) was not part of the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka also. MS not being in any team is a big miss. His presence in the team itself is a huge boost for a lot of the players, not just me, especially the younger players.” Rohit said while talking to the reporters in Chennai which is Dhoni’s second home having led the Chennai Super Kings in all the editions of the IPL.

In his T20I career, the 37-year-old has played 93 matches scoring 1487 runs and has a career strike rate of 128. Dhoni led the Indian team in the shortest format of the game from its inception in 2006 to 2016 when he decided to step down and let Virat Kohli take command.

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from India vs West Indies series, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.