Heaps of surprises in India's selection of T20 and Test squads
The Indian selectors worked overtime on Friday. The Indian T20 squads to play against the West Indies and Australia were announced. Later in the day, the Indian Test squad to play against Australia was also released.
There were heaps of surprises in the team selection, some of them pleasant while some others are shocking. Let us discuss the teams selected for the T20 and Test matches.
The T20 squad - The absence of Dhoni
The biggest surprise of all is the absence of M.S. Dhoni from the T20 squad. Finally, the selectors have taken up the Dhoni conundrum in their own hands and declared that Dhoni did not find a place in the T20 squad, at least for now. Perhaps this might be a sign of things to come in future. Now that the selectors have made their intentions clear, it is up to Dhoni to make his own decision about his one-day career before it goes the T20 way. The decision should be sooner than later as Dhoni is running out of time.
It is painful for the Indian fans to see Dhoni’s T20 career taking a pause. He has given immense pleasure and entertainment to the fans with his attacking brand of cricket in T20. But right from the beginning, Dhoni’s international T20 career has been mixed with his performances in IPL.
While Dhoni is the most successful player for Chennai Super Kings, the same thing cannot be said of his international career. The Indian fans visualize Dhoni as a great T20 player purely based on his performances in the IPL.
For India, Dhoni has scored 1487 runs in 80 innings at an average of 37 and strike-rate of 127. Nothing extraordinary.
In 80 innings, he has scored only two fifties with the highest score of 56. His last 5 innings in T20 has produced 16,52,12,11 & 32 not out.