MS Dhoni was brought as Team India mentor to check Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, reveals former India pacer

Former India captain and Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni was brought in as the ‘Team Mentor’ for the T20 World Cup 2021 immediately after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. While cricket fans were delighted by this move, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had other plans/

The T20 World Cup 2021 was the last tournament for the captain coach duo of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri. Shastri’s tenure was up as he was set to step down as India’s head coach, while Kohli had already announced that he would no longer continue as captain of the T20I side post the Word Cup.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah had revealed the reason behind appointing Dhoni as team’s mentor, saying that with an impeccable record in ICC tournaments, Dhoni’s wisdom and his wealth of knowledge would promise to prove beneficial for Indian cricket.

Throwback to Mentor Singh Dhoni pic.twitter.com/f3SwcjgqAf — SHOUNAK (@Shounak_72_) December 16, 2021

However, former India pacer Atul Wassan made a revelation, claiming that Dhoni was roped in to ensure that Kohli and Shastri did not have their way with the team. “I’ll tell you. Dhoni was brought in just to keep some balance because everybody had a feeling that Virat and Ravi Shastri were totally handling, selecting, managing whoever they wanted to play,” Wassan told CNN-News18.

“They were controlling Indian cricket. So, they (BCCI) thought somebody should come in with some kind of value who would just monitor that there is a balance. I think they messed up greatly in the World Cup,” Wassan added.

On the Kohli captaincy saga, Wassan said that the BCCI and selectors did not do anything wrong in naming Rohit Sharma as the new ODI captain. “Here in India, once you have played a lot of cricket and you become a demi-god, the player expects to get some lineage, get some special treatment. This system needs to change.

“If you are not gelling well with the organisation and you have got a better option, players also have to stop feeling low or let down. Don’t expect too much from the board because once you have a tap on the shoulder, you have got to take it as a man,” he added.