MSK Prasad spills out the beans on MS Dhoni's absence in T20I squads

The Indian selectors announced a plethora of squads for the upcoming India series on Friday. The most shocking news though was MS Dhoni’s absence from the T20I squads against the Windies and Australia as well. The veteran doesn’t even play all the formats these days and his exclusion surprised many. However, MSK Prasad has given the much-needed update on the same and has cleared that MS Dhoni hasn’t been dropped from the team.

The chief selector, while speaking in the press conference, clarified that they are looking for the second wicketkeeper-batsman and hence the former Indian captain will not be playing the upcoming six T20 Internationals. “MS Dhoni is not going to play the 6 T20Is because we’re looking at the second keeper slot. It is not the end of Dhoni in T20Is,” MSK Prasad said.

Kohli also rested

As far as the T20I squad is concerned, Virat Kohli has also been rested for the Windies T20Is as Rohit Sharma has been appointed the skipper. While Kohli will return for the Australia series, MS Dhoni has been sidelined with the selectors looking for an option to the veteran.

Shahbaz Nadeem and Krunal Pandya have deservedly earned a call-up after consistently performing in the domestic circuit. The latter will also travel to Australia while Nadeem has only been picked for the home series against the Caribbean side. Meanwhile, Washington Sundar has also returned to the mix in the shortest format after impressing against Sri Lanka last year.

It seems that Hardik Pandya hasn’t recovered from his back injury as the star all-rounder is not the part of any of the announced squads. He had injured his back during the Asia Cup against Pakistan in the league stage. It will be interesting to see if he will make a comeback for the three ODIs against Australia in January next year.

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