IPL can be a talking point, but not a selection criteria for MS Dhoni: Former pacer Ashish Nehra

This year’s Indian Premier League cannot be a selection criteria for former India captain Mahendra Singh, feels pacer Ashish Nehra. Dhoni’s comeback and retirement has been a matter of intense speculation. He has already retired from Test cricket been on a sabbatical in the limited-overs format since India were knocked out in the 2019 World Cup semifinal.

His much-awaited comeback is expected to be with Chennai Super Kings at the upcoming IPL. The tournament will be held in the UAE from September 19 to November 8.

Former India pacer Nehra said that Dhoni is still on top of his game and a tournament like the IPL can be a talking point, but not the selection criteria. “For me, MS Dhoni’s game never came down,” Nehra said on Star Sports’ show ‘Cricket Connected’.

Nehra added that Dhoni, if he is available, would remain the first choice of any captain, coach or selector. Praising the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batsman, Nehra said that Dhoni knows how to push youngsters forward and how to run the team.

“He knows how to run the team, he knows how to push youngsters forward and all these things I don’t need to repeat again and again but I don’t think this IPL makes any difference in MS Dhoni’s stature or his aura as a player,” said Nehra, who played 17 Tests and 120 ODIs.

The 41-year-old left-arm pacer said players will have to behave responsibly during the IPL to avoid protocol breaches like that by England’s Jofra Archer during the recently concluded England-West Indies series.

Archer had breached the bio-secure protocols and was dropped from the side for the second Test.

Nehra said such a breach during an eight-team IPL would be a bigger problem to tackle.

“We have seen one incident of Jofra Archer on what happened, so we are hoping that those kinds of the incidents don’t happen. That was a bilateral series where the teams are staying at the ground.

Nehra also said that organising the tournament would be a challenge. “It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be a hell of a job just to organise the tournament (IPL) because you’re talking about eight teams. Yes, the good thing is that one won’t be required to take flights and everything will be by road, so everything will be close so everybody should really help the authorities,” he said.