Picture Credit: Twitter
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced the India squad World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, which will be played in the second week of June in England. The name that grabbed everyone’s attention was Ajinkya Rahane making it to the WTC Final squad. While fans were happy to see the India veteran making his comeback in the squad, several former players welcomed the squad, and were pleased with it.
However, everyone had questions regarding the wicketkeeper’s position which seems to be in danger as India's regular wicket keeper in Test, Rishabh Pant, is currently undergoing rehabilitation following a fatal accident in December 2022. Former India coach, Ravi Shastri was also seen speaking on the topic, and made a clear point when the question of MS Dhoni taking his retirement back raised.
Shastri while speaking to a news website, was asked him if the team should look for former wicketkeeper MS Dhoni, and would he come out of retirement for the position in the upcoming tournament. Replying to the anchor, he said that MS Dhoni doesn't think twice once he makes up his mind, and he won't come out of retirement for the WTC final.
He said, "Nah. Once MS makes up his mind, he makes up his mind. To leave Test cricket, where he could have easily played for a year or year and a half, if he was statistically driven like our country is then he would have loved that 100 Test match mark, big crowd, nice ceremony, nice presentation, walk around the crowd, say goodbye to everyone...he doesn't want that. He's like hands up, new man is there, let him be."
Notably, Rishabh Pant met with a life-threatening accident in December last year and isn’t a part of the IPL 2023. During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in February-March, it was KS Bharat who kept the wickets for India, while Rahul was dropped for his poor performance in the first two Tests of the four-match series.