Former Team India spinner Venkatapathy Raju has expressed his thoughts on why MS Dhoni was appointed as the Indian captain. Earlier in 2007, Raju was part of the official selection committee which appointed Dhoni as the Team India skipper.
MS Dhoni’s achievement
Indian skipper MS Dhoni bags three important trophies for India under his captaincy which makes him as a best. The “cool” character makes him to stand unique from other captains and players.
Venkatapathy’s open talk
M.S. Dhoni was named the captain of Indian Team for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa in September 2007 and remained till 2016 in test matches Dhoni remained captain from 2008 to 2014. After this long period Venkatapathy Raju one of the official selection committee which appointed Dhoni as the Team India skipper opened his talk on the reason for his selection.
“Any player has to keep playing and performing to be in the contention. Be it domestic, India-A series or any other competitive cricket. You don’t have to prove to others, but prove to yourself that you belong there,” Raju told Sportstar in an interview.
“Playing international cricket is never easy. It demands a different level of fitness and skills. For that, you have to be in the thick of it.”
“I remember how I struggled coming back into Indian team after a three-year gap because of the totally different kind of intensive training in the Indian team as compared to playing Ranji or other first-class tournament,” he added.
“The guiding principle of the panel was simple – only consistent performers and match-winners will be considered for selection. We could do this because we watched most of the matches with focus on certain fringe players, who could go on to play for India. This is where the India-A series concept really helped us,” the former cricketer claimed.
