Gavaskar welcomes mentor Dhoni, hopes there are no clashes with Shastri

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar welcomed the news of MS Dhoni’s appointment as Team India’s mentor for the ICC World T20 World Cup. He said that this decision is definitely going to benefit the team. “MS Dhoni‘s appointment itself will be a big boost for Team India. He has so much experience, he knows everything,” Gavaskar said.

He said that if the duo of Ravi Shastri and MS Dhoni tick all the right boxes then the Indian cricket deal will benefit a lot.

“Under his leadership, India won the 2011 World Cup and four years before that, India won the 2007 T20 World Cup. It’s definitely going to benefit Team India,” said Gavaskar on Aaj Tak.

“… Ravi Shastri knows that MS Dhoni has very little interest in coaching. Ravi Shastri and MS Dhoni, if the partnership goes well, India will benefit a great deal from it,” Gavaskar added.

“But if there are disagreements over tactics and team selection, then there might be bit of an effect on the team. But MS Dhoni’s appointment itself will be a big boost for Team India. He has so much experience, he knows everything. There was no bigger, destructive player than MS Dhoni when he was active in international cricket,” he said.

“… if Ravi Shastri and MS Dhoni can get on the same wavelength, then it’s big news for India,” the former India captain said.

The T20 World Cup is being jointly hosted by the United Arab Emirates and Oman in a total of 4 venues — Muscat, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.

In the tournament, India is placed in Group 2 alongside Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan and two qualifiers. Virat Kohli and co will begin their campaign in a blockbuster clash with Pakistan on October 24.

Team India squad

Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.

Standby players: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.