BCCI makes MS Dhoni mentor of India's T20 WC squad
R Ashwin in 15-member squad for T20 World Cup
New Delhi, Sep 8: Iconic former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Wednesday brought in as mentor of India's 15-member T20 World Cup squad by the BCCI, a move that took everyone by surprise.
The 40-year-old Dhoni retired from international cricket last year, his last India game being the 2019 World Cup semi-final, which the team lost to New Zealand.
"Former India captain M S Dhoni to mentor the team for the T20 World Cup," announced BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a press conference to unveil the squad for the T20 World Cup scheduled to start October 17 in the UAE and Oman.
"(I) spoke to him in Dubai. He agreed to be mentor for World T20 only and I discussed with my colleagues and all are on same page. I spoke to captain (Virat Kohli) and vice captain (Rohit Sharma) and everyone agreed," he added.
It is believed that Dhoni has been brought in for his experience in devising near-perfect white ball strategies and for knowing what it takes to win crucial ICC tournaments, where trophies have remained elusive for his successor.
One of the most successful captains in the history of Indian cricket, the enigmatic wicketkeeper-batsman led India to two world titles -- the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa and the 2011 ODI World Cup in India.
Dhoni is currently with his IPL team Chennai Super Kings, gearing up for the resumption of the league from September 19 in the UAE.
The reticent player's retirement, announced by him through an instagram post on August 15 last year, had taken the cricket world by surprise and he has not spoken even once about it after that.
The highly-respected wicketkeeper-batsman played 90 Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20 Internationals amassing 4876, 10773 and 1617 runs respectively across formats.
He has largely kept a low profile after retiring internationally, focussing on his IPL engagements and organic farming at his home town Ranchi.
Ashwin's inclusion -- the left-field selection
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During the past four Tests against England, despite India's steady performance, the 34-year-old Ashwin's exclusion did stick out like a sore thumb with Kohli unable to give any logical explanation.
It has been reliably learnt that it's primarily the skipper and not the coaching staff who is against fielding Ashwin in the playing XI during the current series.
In this scenario and for a captain, who has not had any faith in the senior spinner's white-ball capabilities for the past four years, it would have been really surprising that the he would have wanted the straight-talking Tamil Nadu tweaker in his limited overs set-up.
"Ashwin is an asset. He performed well in the IPL and we needed a player of his experience. We need an off-spinner with Washington (Sundar) injured. Ashwin is the only specialist off-spinner in the squad," chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma answered a PTI query during the press meet.
Now this is an open secret in Indian cricket that former pacer Chetan hasn't been on the same page with Kohli since the time he has taken over. Their difference of opinion on the selection of Abhimanyu Easwaran in the Test squad for England made headlines not too long back.
However, Chetan is believed to have had support from BCCI brass as well as at least one influential senior player, who is convinced that Ashwin's inclusion was a must taking the Dubai ground into consideration.
"Dubai ground is huge and Ashwin is one bowler, who has variations to trouble a lot of teams in the Powerplay overs. The skipper might not have been convinced for so many years, there are other key players also who are definitely convinced that Ashwin was needed.
"It was a collective decision and skipper had to fall in line," a senior BCCI source privy to immediate developments told PTI.
Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy reap IPL dividends
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Yuzvendra Chahal came into the scene permanently after India's horrible Champions Trophy final against Pakistan after which wrist spinners were in vogue but after four years, life has come full circle for him with his slow through the air approach becoming his undoing.
"We have picked Rahul Chahar over Yuzi as we wanted someone who bowls fast and gets pace off the pitch. He also gets the ball to grip through the surface," Chetan said when asked about junior Chahar's inclusion.
The chairman said that any positive suggestions are welcome when asked if inputs from Rahul Dravid, who was India's coach in Sri Lanka in July, have been taken for selection of Chahar, who was very impressive in all the games.
On Varun Chakravarthy, a pure product of IPL, Chetan said that he is still a surprise element for most teams across the world.
"He is the mystery bowler and teams are not able to read him. He has bowled well in IPL and he will be a surprise package," he explained.
No Dhawan or Prithvi even in 18
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Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan, Delhi Capitals' crack openers, are set to miss out on this edition and it was on the cards since KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are a settled opening pair.
Even skipper Kohli has opened in IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore but Chetan clarified that they are not looking at the skipper as an opener.
"For us, there are three openers -- KL, Rohit and Ishan Kshan. Ishan also gives us the option of playing him in the middle-order as a floater and is also the second wicket-keeper. So we have kept things flexible," he said.
With Suryakumar Yadav's smashing entry into the international scene and Shreyas Iyer's untimely injury, it was always a case of touch and go between the two Mumbaikars.
"Shreyas hasn't played any cricket but we have kept him in the stand-bys."
Shardul will remain in stand by as Hardik set to bowl full quota of overs
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The chairman said that Hardik Pandya has informed that he will bowl his "full quota of overs" and that effectively meant that Shadul Thakur, after his heroics in red ball cricket, will have to be content being in reserves.
Similarly Deepak Chahar, despite his lion-hearted show in Sri Lanka, is in the reserves because Bhuvneshwar Kumar is way more experienced and the inclusion of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah meant that there could only be place for either of the two.
In all it's a team that's not just has Kohli's stamp over it but also has some influence from Rohit Sharma, and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on it. And when the ball starts rolling, there would be a man with serene smile, who would still be the undeclared captain.
An interesting World T20 is on cards which will also decide Kohli's future as white ball leader irrespective of probable Test series win against England.
Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.
Standby players: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.
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Mystery shrouds death of student in Bengaluru found at home with her throat and wrist slit
Bengaluru: Mystery shrouded the death of a young woman who was found with her throat and wrist slit on Wednesday.
Prabhudhya (21), who was studying in second PUC, lived with her mother and brother. She was found dead in the bathroom of her house in Subrahmanyapura on Wednesday evening with her throat and wrist slit, police said.
The incident came to light around 7 pm on Wednesday.
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The PUC student is said to have died of excess bleeding.
Bengaluru South Division DCP Lokesh B Jagalasar said an investigation is on and would cover all aspects of the incident.
