LONDON – Mahendra Singh Dhoni has broken silence over his resignation fromthe captaincy of Indian cricket team.
He said that the idea behind stepping down as India’s limited-overs captainwas to give his successor time to build the team for the ICC Cricket WorldCup 2019.
When Dhoni announced his decision to give up India’s Test captaincy, it wasrather sudden – during a series in Australia in late 2014. Not just theleadership role, he quit the format altogether, ending his career after 90Tests.
The man who had led India to glory in all the major International CricketCouncil tournaments – ICC World T20 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 andICC Champions Trophy 2013 – continued to play the shorter formats, though,and is still a big part of the squad. But since October 2016, it hasn’tbeen as the captain – Virat Kohli has taken charge in all formats.
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Still only 37 and very much in the mix for the next 50-over World Cup, tobe played in England and Wales next summer, Dhoni feels the decision tostep down from captaincy when he did was the right call.
“I resigned from captaincy because I wanted the new captain to get enoughtime for preparing a team before the 2019 World Cup. Selecting a strongteam without giving the new captain appropriate time isn’t possible. Ibelieve that I left the captaincy at the right time,” Dhoni said at anevent in Ranchi, his home town, before leaving for Dubai to take part inthe Asia Cup.
