Team India’s head coach Ravi Shastri reckons that senior cricketer MS Dhoni is an “ultimate team man”, and says some “jealous” critics want him to have a “couple of bad days” as they are “waiting to see” him getting retired from international cricket.

During an interview with Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika, Shastri said, “Looks like there are a lot of jealous people around, who just want Dhoni to have a couple of bad days…. There are a few people who are waiting to see the end of MS Dhoni. But great players like him decide their own future.”

Indian coach feels that the team is aware of Dhoni’s worth and the criticism against the dashing wicketkeeper-batsman made no difference to them. He said, “It (the criticism) doesn’t make a difference to me. In our mind, we know where Dhoni stands within the team. He is an ultimate team-man. He was a great leader and now an ultimate team-man.”

In a dig at some former cricketers and experts, Shastri said: “Not so long ago I used to do television and people used to ask me questions. You need to answer questions to make a show happen. Dhoni is a superstar. He is one of our greatest cricketers. So he is always going to be a great topic. He is always going to be a topic because he is a legend. When you have a career as glorious as that, you become a topic on television.”

Shastri brought a light to the fact that Dhoni, who has retired from Test cricket, has averaged over 65 in ODIs over the last one year and helped India win matches in Sri Lanka and against Australia at home in the last series only.