Syed Kirmani says MS Dhoni should play the 2019 World Cup

Former Indian wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani has backed MS Dhoni and said that the ex Indian skipper should be retained in the squad for the 2019 world cup. Kirmani said that Dhoni’s calm and composed mind and his proven leadership quality will help India during the ICC event. Dhoni has been in good form recently. In the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka, Dhoni has played three match winning knocks and he stayed unbeaten on all three occasions.

Dhoni scored 47 not out in the 2nd ODI and pulled India out of trouble, as the visitors were struggling at 131/7 at one stage. He stitched a vital partnership with opener Rohit Sharma in the next game and bailed India out of trouble with an unbeaten 67*. In his milestone 300th ODI, the former skipper played a good hand of 49*.

Kirmani recalls an incident

Kirami recalled the time when he heard Dhoni’s name for the first time. He narrated the story to Mykhel in an exclusive interview, while speaking over phone, ”

,”Amidst the situation like this, I received a call from Pranab Roy one fine day. He was watching a match in the domestic cricket, probably in Ranchi that time. Pranab told me that he has found a new wicketkeeper-batsman who has been performing well in the domestic cricket for last two seasons. His name was Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “So I asked Pranab how the new boy was performing behind the wickets. Pranab replied to my surprise that the boy was fielding at deep fine leg!” Kirmani remembered, “I wondered if a cricketer was fielding at deep fine leg then how could Pranab say that he had spotted a promising wicketkeeper?”

Piling up runs at the domestic level

“Pranab must have been aware of my surprise. So he informed me in detail that the young lad has some very impressive statistics in the domestic cricket for the last two seasons and that he’s good behind the wickets as well.”Kirmani added,”It was only after Roy’s call, that I observed Dhoni’s tremendous performance in the domestic cricket. In his debut for the season for Jharkhand in 2000, the boy from Ranchi had struck 283 runs in only five matches. He was 18 years old then.”

Dhoni is currently the second wicketkeeper after Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara to play 300 ODIs. He is also at the top of the charts when it comes to most not out innings in ODIs (73).