Is it time for national selectors to ease out Dhoni from Team India?

The man who once, as India's captain, took tough decisions and phased out a galaxy of veteran cricketing stars must now confront his ageing self and take a call on his own - and Indian cricket's - future. Twice in his career, in 2008 and 2012, captain MS Dhoni had to engineer an uncomfortable purge of senior cricketers, including some of the greatest India have produced like Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag.

Dhoni, at that time, had the upcoming World Cups in mind. Now, with the wicketkeeper-batsman unlikely to be in the scheme of things for the next World Cup in 2023, is it time he himself made way?

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir, for one, thinks so. Gambhir feels Dhoni himself once invested in the future as skipper by demanding younger players be tried out, and it is now time that India's selection committee takes "practical decisions" with regards to Dhoni himself, given that youngsters are once again waiting in the wings. The selection panel meets on Sunday to pick the squads for the West Indies tour amid intense speculation that Dhoni may already have played his last ODI for India during the World Cup.
"It's important to look into the future. And when Dhoni was the skipper, he invested in the future. I remember Dhoni saying in Australia that me, Sachin and Sehwag can't play the CB series together as the grounds were big," Gambhir was quoted as saying by a TV channel.
"He wished for young players for the World Cup. It's necessary to take practical decisions than being emotional. And it's time to groom the youngsters. Be it Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan or any other wicketkeeper, whoever is believed to have the potential should be made the wicketkeeper," he said.
"Give a youngster a chance for one-and-a-half-years and if he doesn't perform, then others should be tried out. Only then will one get to know who the 'keeper for the next World Cup is," the 37-year-old said. The cricketer-turned-politician hailed Dhoni as one of the best captains but said it was unfair to give all credit to him for India's success and slam him when the team failed to perform.
^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

References

1. ^{^} Sourav Ganguly (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
2. ^{^} Rahul Dravid (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
3. ^{^} Virender Sehwag (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
4. ^{^} Gautam Gambhir (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
5. ^{^} Rishabh Pant (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
6. ^{^} Sanju Samson (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
7. ^{^} Ishan Kishan (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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