MS Dhoni’s days as India captain not numbered: Gilchrist

Even as a debate rages over MS Dhoni’s future as the India limited-overs captain, former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist believes Dhoni still has a lot to offer while leading the team.

“I don’t think he (Dhoni) needs to step aside from captaincy. I don’t think India need to fast-track the exit of any players. MS Dhoni is still providing great leadership and batsmanship apart from being a reliable wicketkeeper,” Gilchrist told HT on Thursday.

The former cricketer, who is the brand ambassador of the University of Wollongong, was in Mumbai to award the 2017 Bradman Foundation Scholarships.

The 44-year-old also heaped praise on Virat Kohli, who took over the reins of the Test team from MS Dhoni two years ago.

“Virat Kohli’s development as a leader has been profound and has been very exciting to watch. He’ll continue to rise into that role of complete captain of India in all forms at some time,” Gilchrist added.

In March, former team director Ravi Shastri had said that Virat Kohli should be handed the job across all formats. Shastri even went on to say that such a decision would be in the “good of Indian cricket”. His rationale was that this was the best time for the team to transition and build around Virat Kohli given that there were no major events till three years down the line.

However, many former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly have thrown their weight behind MS Dhoni staying on as captain.