T20 World Cup India – MS Dhoni Mentor Role: The Indian cricket fraternity and even the BCCI officials were left stunned and stumped on Wednesday with announcement of MS Dhoni’s name as mentor of the Indian cricket team for T20 World Cup. No one had an iota of idea about the move by top BCCI official. According to the information available with InsideSport.co, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah initiated the move to bring in Dhoni as mentor of the Indian squad. Leave aside the cricket fraternity, not even biggest of the BCCI officials were informed about the move.
“No, we did not had an idea about this. Dhoni’s inclusion came in as a pleasant surprise. I spoke to Secretary later & congratulated him on the move. Dhoni’s presence in the dressing room can work wonders for this team. All credit to Jay Shah for making it work”, disclosed one of the top BCCI official
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InsideSport.co also spoke to one of the Indian World Cup team player who is currently in England and the news of Dhoni’s role came as a huge surprise to them as well.
“It’s absolute surprise, a very very pleasant one. We will again have him (Dhoni) in our dressing room, it’s kind of a dream. His experience, calmness, presence will really help the squad during crunch matches & situations in the World Cup”, declared the Indian team member.
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T20 World Cup India – MS Dhoni Mentor Role: But now the million dollar question, how exactly Jay Shah convinced Dhoni to take up the role. According to sources close to Shah, the BCCI secretary mooted the idea of bringing in Dhoni as mentor of the team sometime back but never discussed this formally with anyone.
It was only during his recent visit to UAE for launch of T20 World Cup trophy, he formally discussed the proposition with the former Indian captain. Dhoni has been in Dubai with CSK squad preparing for IPL 2021 Phase 2 & Shah met him virtually to discuss the proposal.
3 time ICC Trophy winner Dhoni appreciated the offer but wanted more clarity on the role as well as asked Shah if the proposal has been discussed with the Indian team management i.e Captain Virat Kohli, Coach Ravi Shastri & senior players like Rohit Sharma.
According to the source, Shah said if Dhoni agrees to the proposal – he will immediately discuss the same with the Indian captain & the coach. After getting go-ahead from Dhoni, the proposal was discussed with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma & Shastri. All 3 welcomed and accepted the idea.
Once all of this was done, Shah disclosed the proposal to some of his close BCCI functionaries and finally on Wednesday Dhoni’s inclusion as mentor of the Indian team was revealed to the world.
“Spoke to Dhoni when I was in Dubai. Agreed to be a mentor for T20 World Cup only. Captain, vice-captain and the head coach were consulted and which is why Dhoni is on board” – declared BCCI Sec Jay Shah.
T20 World Cup India – MS Dhoni Mentor Role: Will this is just a one time move or Dhoni will play role in future too?
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According to the information available, the move to appoint Dhoni as mentor of the Indian squad for now is just a one time move. After Shastri’s tenure, India will be on a lookout for a new head coach. While Dhoni might not assume the role of the coach in the near future, the BCCI might secure the services of Dhoni in similar mentorship roles for major events. India will be hosting the 2023 World Cup. Virat Kohlli’s men will also be featuring in next year’s T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to b played in October-November in Australia & in these big events one may see Dhoni again in a similar role.
MS Dhoni’s experience of having won 3 ICC trophies, including the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the World Cup in 2011, will come in handy in these big tournaments according to the sources in BCCI.
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