Chappell calls on BCCI to end Dhoni pilgrimage

Sudhir Gupta 05:54 16/07/2014
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  • Under fire: MS Dhoni’s overseas record is the worst among all Indian captains

    Former Australian captain Ian Chappell believes Mahendra Singh Dhoni has nothing more to offer as India Test captain and he should hand over the reins to Virat Kohli.

    “I think it time for Dhoni to go and maybe it is right time for Kohli to come in as captain,” Chappell said yesterday. “Certainly, he is not a Test captain. I think he is a good captain in shorter-version of the game.”

    Despite huge successes in limited overs cricket where he has led India to World Cup highs in one-dayers (2011) and Twenty20s (2007), Dho­ni has not been able to make a simi­lar impact as Test captain.

    In fact, India’s overseas record has been woeful with Dhoni at the helm, highlighted by India's 4-0 loss in England (2011) and a similar defeat in Australia the following year.

    They also returned empty-handed from their last two trips to South Africa (2013) and New Zealand (2014), losing both 1-0.

    It has resulted in Dhoni ending up with the worst overseas record among all Indian captains – 11 de­feats in 23 Tests and just five wins.

    Chappell feels India need fresh leadership ideas following their poor record under Dhoni but he has doubts on the selectors taking such a bold step.

    “Indian selectors do not have the ruthless quality as Austral­ian selectors have,” he said. “They wait for the guy to retire. I mean after he (Dhoni) lost 4-0 to England and Australia, if he would have been an Australian captain he would have gone. He did nothing to inspire the team.

    “You can always lose, that is fine, but you go down fighting. I did not find him do that. To me the captain has lost his usefulness and it is time for him to go,” he said.

    Chappell insists 27 years is the right age for Kohli to lead the side.

    He said: “I don’t think captaincy would affect Kohli adversely be­cause he is a very strong character and is a confident cricketer.

    “So he can work out [things] as a captain. At 27, you have got four to five years for a player to peak, and it is crucial to give the guy the captain­cy. No good giving him captaincy at the age 32 to 33, when he is started to go over the top. You got to give him his best chance,” he told Press Trust of India.

    Chappell felt the Indians have to be judicious with their selections to make an impact in the ongoing Test series in England.

    “If you don’t get selections right it is pretty hard to win. How can you leave (Ravichan­dran) Ashwin? He is far better bowl­er than (Ravindra) Jadeja as well. So they have to sort that out.”

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