Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (in pic) has highlighted that age is not a factor for selection in the team and as long as a player is fit and performing he should remain a part of the team.
Dhoni’s remark gives hope to some out-of-favour players like Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag, who have been trying to regain their place in national side. There have been lots of speculations that the careers of some senior players are as good as over since ‘young teams’ sent to Zimbabwe and South Africa have given good results.
“I don’t really agree with the idea of a young side. When you talk about cricket, age is not a factor. What matters is how fit you are. As a batsman or a bowler, if you are performing, it doesn’t matter whether you are 40 or 45. As long as you are an asset on the field, age really doesn’t matter. You don’t choose players on the basis of fitness alone,” Dhoni said during the launch of Fitsoul, a sports and fitness retain chain, here on Monday.
Indian team has been recently praised for their improved fielding standards and it has been credited to the young legs in the team. “It (fitness) is an important thing. You can have a bad day as a batsman or a bowler but if you are fit and field well, you can still save some runs for the team,” Dhoni said emphasising the importance of having fit players in the team.
When asked to express his view on Sachin Tendulkar’s comment urging selectors to focus on a player’s pressure handling ability rather than the scorebook, Dhoni said, “I think selectors always look for these things. When selectors believe that a player has it in him and he will give good results in the long run, that player is given more chances to perform. But, he will have to perform to retain his place in the side.”
Dhoni, however, was very happy with the way Virat Kohli led the side in his absence. “He has been really good. The best thing is that he is expressive. As an individual, you need to be yourself on the field. He has changed a lot in recent times which is a very good sign for us. In Zimbabwe, he led the team really well. He has all the right recipes (to lead India),” he said.
After the clean sweep in Test series earlier this year, the Indian captain is now scheming another powerful performance when Australia come here during October-November for seven ODIs and one T20. “We have the Champions league first which is not an international tournament. After that, Australia are coming to India and that is very important. We have not done very well against them here and will try to do well this time. During that time, the dew will come into the picture, so the toss will be crucial,” he said.
Recently, Dhoni was named in the dream teams of Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly but he himself doesn’t believe in naming such a team. “I have no intention of naming an all-time time team because eras are different. It’s like mixing the parts of a two-stroke bike with a four-stroke one. I would like to respect every player who has played even one Test for the country.”