Dhoni is not going anywhere: Team rallies behind embattled former skipper

Bengaluru, July 19: The future MS Dhoni has been the hot topic of discussion in Indian sporting circles, a talk accentuated by his two below-par outings against England in the one-dayers at Leeds and Lord's.

The flow against Dhoni started during the second ODI at Lord's when India were chasing 323 for a win. Personally, the match was a good one for Dhoni as he went past the 10000-run barrier in ODI cricket and completed 300 catches in ODIs.

But his knock - a 59-ball 37 - came in for a lot of criticism as many believed it robbed India the momentum while chasing. And the Indian section of the crowd at Lord's also booed Dhoni for his slow batting. In the deciding rubber at Leeds, Headingley, Dhoni made 42 off 66 but the innings was only good enough take India past the 250-run mark and England chased down the target easily with Joe Root making a hundred and skipper Eoin Morgan a fifty.

More than the knock, the gesture Dhoni, who had retired from Test cricket in 2015, made after the match fueled the talk about his future. A video grab showed Dhoni taking the match ball from on-field umpires Bruce Oxenford and Michael Gough, and the discussion about Dhoni's possible retirement soon became rampant in the social media.

Milestone Alert : @msdhoni breaches the 10,000 runs mark in ODIs.

He is the 4th Indian to achieve the feat.#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/vDsWgUZoXQ

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 14, 2018

One of the team members told MyKhel that the there have been no such talks in the dressing room. "In fact, none of us have thought about it (Dhoni's retirement). He is fit and is still the best wicketkeeper in the country. At times, it happens that your batting will not click. All players go through it. The team management has complete faith in Dhoni bhai and it's (retirement) totally his call.

"I don't know what sparked the social media discussion about his retirement and we don't really worry about it. The bottom line is Dhoni is going nowhere," he said.

India head coach Ravi Shastri too rubbished the "is Dhoni retiring" talks. "MS wanted to show the ball to Bharat Arun. He wanted to show him the wear and tear the ball had endured, to get a general idea of what the conditions were like," Shastri was quoted as saying by the Times of India. "Rest of the talk is rubbish. MS is not going anywhere," said Shastri.