Article
Sunil Gavaskar Questions MS Dhoni’s Absence From Team India
By Shruti - Jan 12, 2020 8:56 pm
Views 53

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar raised a question about the return of MS Dhoni who is out of action since the team’s semi-final exit from the 2019 ICC World Cup. Gavaskar said that he can’t speak on Dhoni’s fitness.

MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni

“I can’t tell you anything about fitness. But I think the question that needs to be asked is of MSD himself,” Gavaskar told reporters. “He has not made himself available to play for India since July 10. That is the important point. Does anyone keep himself away from playing for India for that long? That is the question and therein lies the answer.”

In MS Dhoni’s absence, Rishabh Pant has been pushed as India’s wicketkeeper for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Sanju Samson has also been in the circuit following impressive performances in domestic cricket and he played for India in place of Pant during their third T20I against Sri Lanka in Pune on Friday. However, Sunil Gavaskar later said that he hopes remuneration for uncapped players in the Ranji Trophy is also increased in respect to the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“IPL dominates Ranji Trophy. Unless match fees are increased substantially, it (Ranji Trophy) will be considered an orphan and poor cousin of Indian cricket,” he said.

Read here: I’ve got no demons in my head, says Glenn Maxwell

Gavaskar further said that the share of BCCI revenues that goes into remuneration for domestic players has been the same for quite some time now.

“Remuneration of Ranji players has not really increased over the last few years and I hope that with Sourav Ganguly being the BCCI president, he will look into it. The disparity between (remuneration of) players who play 14 days of IPL — who don’t always play first class cricket — and those who play 80 days of Ranji cricket if you play all the matches, is big. Hopefully that will be narrowed down as much as possible,” he expressed.

“What I think does not matter. It’s what the current players think that matterd because they are the ones who will play the matches. They are the ones who should be consulted. They are more aware of the ground situation. I think we can be there and talk but they are well aware of what needs to be done,” Sunil Gavaskar said.