Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts
 

MyKhel Exclusive: MS Dhoni retires: Dhoni handled pressure well: Dilip Vengsarkar

MyKhel Exclusive: MS Dhoni retires: Dhoni handled pressure well: Dilip Vengsarkar. It was the selection panel headed by Vengsarkar made Dhoni the India captain.

MyKhel Exclusive: Vengsarkar hails Dhoni

Bengaluru, August 16: MS Dhoni walked into retirement on Saturday (August 15) without any fanfare or emotional confetti circling around him. Dilip Vengsarkar, former Indian captain and chief selector, who had a big hand in picking Dhoni and then appointing him as India skipper said the Jharkhand man is quite irreplaceable in many ways.

It is now a part of Indian cricket's folklore as how Vengsarkar and his panel pitchforked Dhoni into captaincy prior to the ICC World T20 in South Africa. The news had filtered out during India's away ODI series in England and it surprised many because Dhoni till then had not even captained his state team.

Dhoni kept that touch of 'enigma' throughout his career and the final act too was not an exception - a cryptic Instagram post. Vengsarkar was not really surprised. "It was so typical of him. He never really wanted to stand in the limelight. He always put the team ahead of him. His ability to see things in a wider perspective was one of the traits that made us zeroed in on him as captain then (in 2007),"

What made Vengsarkar a delighted man was his decision did not go wrong as Dhoni led India for a long time and with some distinction too. Under Dhoni, India won three major white ball titles - ICC World T20 in 2007, ICC 50-over World Cup 2011 and the Champions Trophy 2013. India had also reached the pinnacle of ICC Test rankings for the first time with Dhoni at the helm.

"At that time, we were confident of our choice of Dhoni for captaincy. He was a very confident young man, who had clear ideas about team and his own game, trademark of a good player. He handled the responsibility of captaincy and being the wicketkeeper in three formats with aplomb. It was not an easy task but how he managed responsibility and pressure is a lesson for all young cricketers. He is a truly irreplaceable cricketer," said Vengsarkar.

Story first published: Sunday, August 16, 2020, 18:41 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 16, 2020