Was Dada's No in 2014 a mistake ?

Selection committee was discussing on two names for the wicket-keeper and final nod was to be taken by captain Sourav Ganguly, on which name to be finalised. Who was knowing at that time, the name he was going to take will overshadow his own captaincy records. Name opted against Bangladesh in a 50 over game was non other than MS Dhoni. What happened after the epic decision on the long-haired, strong-muscled athlete was taken, is history. As told by few greats, no one understands the game better than MS Dhoni in all presently playing cricketers.

What dhoni did everyone knows, what he achieved for the country is phenomenal and isn’t something people are not aware of. He has been in the team for almost around 13 years in all the formats. Being a wicket-keeper batsman he was always a road blocker for other players in same profile. Some players got their chances in bits and pieces, but was that enough ? Neither of the wicket-keepers got chances on a regular basis till Dhoni was in the team in tests. Neither they are getting constant chances in ODIs while Dhoni is in the team.  Dhoni had done so well in all the departments that few names never crossed the minds of team selectors of India.

Few days before Dinesh Karthik played an incredible knock of 29 of just 8 balls to get his team over the line winning the finals of Nidahas trophy by hitting a six on the final delivery of the innings. One thing came in my mind, what a waste he has been for the Indian team by only being around the team for years and not finding a place in the playing eleven. I took a look at his career figures which didn’t define the talent he has. He has played 23 test matches making 1000 runs with only one century with the average of 27.77. In ODIs he is yet to score a century in 79 matches managing just under 1500 runs including 9 50s. Even a kid could say that his stats are not good enough. Then I saw his First class records which was impressive enough to write a article for him. His statistics in First Class stands around 9,214 runs in 157 matches with an impressive average of 42.07 including 27 hundreds with 213 as the top score. So, Was not getting regular chances ruined his dream and did india loose the prime time of a supremely talented player ?

Even I was never a fan or even a follower of his batting or Wicket- keeping, but the knock in finals against Bangladesh at such pressure situation made me think otherwise. Good to see, finally he is getting the due credit. Let’s hope for a better career ahead for the 2.0 version of Dinesh Karthik.