When MS Dhoni returned back to international cricket after a gap of three months, he was expected to fire and lead his team to series win against Faf du Plessis-led South Africa in T20s. However, that wasn’t the case as the Proteas sealed the series with back-to-back wins at Dharamsala and Cuttack.
While it was a pathetic display of batting from the Indian batsmen in the second T20, Dhoni’s personal form wasn’t up to the mark either. While he scored 20 runs from 12 balls in the first match, he was dismissed for just 5 in the second where the Men in Blue needed him to deliver a captain’s knock.
There were lot of questions asked about Dhoni’s form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year, where he had a very average tournament as per his standards. We all are used to seeing Dhoni come in to bat at number 5 and smash the bowlers all over the park.
However, of late he hasn’t been the threat he used to be. While his signature helicopter shots have reduced, he isn’t the finisher any more in T20s.
Surprisingly, Dhoni, who became the first captain to lead a team in 50 T20 matches in the ongoing series against South Africa, doesn’t have a T20 half-century to his name.
Considering the ICC T20 World Cup which will be hosted by India next year, and also the fact that Virat Kohli is the man who will be leading the team in all formats in the years to come, the question which arises is whether Dhoni should step down as captain for T20s to completely focus on his batting?
