T20 World Cup 2021: MS Dhoni named mentor of India's 15-man squad
Former captain MS Dhoni has been named mentor of Team India’s 15-man squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The BCCI, on Wednesday, announced the Indian squad for T20 World Cup, which will be held in the UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14.
BCCI, through a tweet, informed that Dhoni would mentor the Indian T20 World Cup squad. The post read:
“Former India Captain @msdhoni to mentor the team for the T20 World Cup" - Honorary Secretary @JayShah.”
Dhoni is among the most successful captains in the history of limited-overs cricket. In fact, he is the only skipper to have won all three ICC crowns in white-ball cricket. After leading India to T20 World Cup glory in the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2007, Dhoni captained India to triumph in the 2011 50-over World Cup as well as the 2013 Champions Trophy. Dhoni was the man of the match for his unbeaten 91 in the 2011 World Cup final.
Click here and take a look at the T20 World Cup fixtures for 2021.
Meanwhile, there were a few surprises in the Indian squad announced for the T20 World Cup. Off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who last played a T20I for India back in July 2017, has found a place in the 15-member squad. Senior opener Shikhar Dhawan and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal did not make the cut.
India’s T20 World Cup squad
Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), 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, Mohd Shami.
Standby players – Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.
MS Dhoni: A worthy mentor
Dhoni, who announced his retirement from international cricket last year, is highly respected in Indian cricketing circles, as he is across the globe, in cricket-loving nations.
He has, in fact, captained a number of the players who are part of the 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup 2021, including captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma. As such, the players share a great comfort level with him.
In a marvelous career, Dhoni scored over 10000 runs in ODIs and 4876 in Tests. He also played 98 T20Is, scoring 1617 runs.