While naming his all-time India XI, the former India cricketer, Dinesh Karthik, left out MS Dhoni, creating a social media storm with that decision. The decision brought vast controversy from the fans and pundits after naming the squad. Karthik was forced to give an apology while acknowledging Dhoni as a cricketer and one of the best that India has ever produced.
Under his captaincy, India went on to scale new heights in the game of cricket, winning the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. Apart from his captaincy skills, Dhoni is also famous for his batting, having scored over 10,000 runs in ODIs.
Karthik admitted his mistake, stating that he had overlooked the wicketkeeper while choosing the XI of his choice. He said he missed out amidst the rush of decisions and the selection of Rahul Dravid went amiss and was misinterpreted in his plan as a utility wicketkeeper.
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“Bhai log bada galti ho gaya. Genuinely, it was a mistake. I realised it only when the episode came out. There were so many things happening that when I put this 11, I actually forgot the keeper. Luckily, Rahul Dravid was there, so everybody thought I made a part-time wicketkeeper. But genuinely, I didn’t think Rahul Dravid was a keeper,” Dinesh Karthik said in a video uploaded on Cricbuzz.
Dinesh Karthik apologising Dhoni fans publicly. 🥳#MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/GnAMhDPtPC
— 𝐒 𝐰 𝐚 𝐫 𝐚 🆇 (@SwaraMSDian) August 23, 2024
Dinesh Karthik went on to explain his fanboyism for Dhoni and stressed that the former skipper would always find a way into any all-time Indian XI he would pick.
“It is a blunder. Itna bada mistake I couldn’t have made. And as far as I am concerned, let’s make it very, very clear. Thala Dhoni is a lock-in in any format that I put. Not only in India, I believe he is one of the greatest cricketers ever to have played this sport,” he added.
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Dinesh Karthik’s all-time XI: Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Anil Kumble, Jasprit Bumrah, Zaheer Khan.
