Dhoni believes his challenge on Zimbabwe tour will be identifying the strengths of his young side in a short span of time. © Getty
Successive defeats in One-Day International series against Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia, followed by an unsuccessful 2016 ICC World Twenty20 campaign at home, coupled with his own lack of form has recently sparked a debate on whether it is time for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to step down and let Virat Kohli, India's Test captain, take over the reigns across all three formats of the game.
Dhoni, who quit Test cricket after the drawn Melbourne game against Australia in December 2014, was replaced by Kohli at the helm in the longest format. The wicketkeeper-batsman, however, continued to lead the team in the shorter formats of the game. He has, by far, been India's most successful skipper - leading India to both the 50-over and Twenty20 world titles and was also in charge when India climbed to the top spot in the Test rankings. His form, however, has deserted him in recent past.
Ravi Shastri, team's outgoing director, too, advocated for the change last week, suggesting that it was time for the selectors to take a call in the 'interest of Indian cricket'.
Quite naturally, Dhoni had to face the tricky question before India's departure for the short limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe. The Indian skipper, however, decided to play it safe. "It is a decision that BCCI will take, it is not up to me to decide that," Dhoni retorted at the pre-departure press meet in Mumbai on Tuesday (June 7).
Dhoni, however, was more forthcoming when his opinion on the ongoing hunt for the new head coach of the team was asked for. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) called for a Hindi-speaking candidate as one of its nine-point criteria for the selection, the captain believes, more than language it is the understanding of the country's culture that will help the new man gel well with the team.
