Chief of Indian selectors MSK Prasad has clarified that MS Dhoni will surely be continuing till the 2019 World Cup as some of the younger glovemen, who have been tried, are not even close to the former Indian skipper’s level.

Prasad’s views make it clear that Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant has now fallen off the radar quite sharply with the second keeper in limited overs being 32-year-old Dinesh Karthik. He said, “We are grooming some wicketkeepers during India A tours. But more or less, we have fixed up (our) minds till the World Cup (on continuing with Dhoni) and after that at later stages, we will start grooming some of those (wicket-keepers).”

He further added, “I think MS Dhoni still remains the No 1 wicket-keeper in the world and day in and day out we have been saying this. In the current T20 series (against Sri Lanka), the stumpings he has affected and caught-behind he has taken are phenomenal. There is no comparison and I don’t see any wicket-keeper, who can even come close to him in world cricket, leave alone Indian Cricket.”

What the chairman of selectors said after that would be pretty disturbing for the likes of Pant and Sanju Samson, who are next in line. He clarified, “Let me tell you frankly, those boys still are not up to the level as what we would have expected. We will still be giving them chances on India A tours and see that they are nurtured.”