Former India captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, might have stepped down from the captaincy of the national team but it seems that he still has a hold on the decision-making in terms of selecting a team. The selectors of Team India met yesterday to announce the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

There weren’t any special surprises in the team that was selected. The selection of the team was more on the basis of experience than on IPL glamour. But one thing which impressed one and all was the selection of the five stand-bye players for the Champions Trophy.

As per a report in The Times Of India, Dhoni himself had asked BCCI to keep 5 stand-by players ready for unforeseen circumstances that might take place in England considering the players have been playing non-stop cricket for the past nine months or so.

“It was Dhoni’s idea to keep the standbys ready. The Indian team has suffered a lot with breakdowns in the middle of big series,” a top BCCI official was quoted as saying by TOI.

Teenage wicket-keeper, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur are the five players that have been named as stand-byes. Pant has been in the radar of selectors for some time now. Karthik proved his credentials yet again in the domestic circuit earlier this year. Raina has been a prolific run-scorer in this IPL. Kuldeep Yadav made his test debut earlier this year and has it in him to deceive the batsmen with his variety. Thakur has been among the wickets in the domestic arena for some time now.

Chief selector, MSK Prasad, was quoted (on Dhoni), “Not many people realise that in last 10-12 years Dhoni has never had a bad day with the gloves. We always treat him as a batsman but not many people appreciate the phenomenal stuff he does behind the wickets. According to me, he is still the best wicketkeeper in world cricket. He is the best person to guide Virat.”