Melbourne: Ignoring persistent queries on his shock Test retirement, Indian ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday sought to focus on the ongoing cricket tri-series against Australia and England, saying that his team would look to try different combinations keeping in mind next month’s World Cup here.
Dhoni stone-walled questions on his Test retirement in the build-up to India’s first ODI against Australia in the ongoing tri-series on Sunday. Returning to the scene of his last Test, the Melbourne Cric-ket Ground, the Indian ODI skipper stayed mum on his exit from the five-day arena.
“The BCCI press release (about my retirement) explained everything. You can ask questions, but it is my decision . I will answer if I want to,” he said, with a straight-face.
Dhoni also didn’t answer one other question. When asked who out of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma will open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan, he replied, “You will have to wait and watch.”
He was quite keen to talk about other things though, primarily the tri-series as a build-up to the World Cup.
“We will look to try out different things in this tournament,” Dhoni said in the pre-match press conference.
“We have four games at least and five if we make the final. It is important for us to get the playing combination right. But at the same time we won’t push players who have a few niggles that can transform into major injuries. We will give them that extra time if needed. We will manage the workload accordingly.”
This essentially ruled out Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma out of tomorrow’s game with no word on when the former will be fully fit. Ishant, meanwhile, is still recovering from his left-knee pain for which he missed the Sydney Test as well. It brings Dhawal Kulkarni and Mohit Sharma into contention as they are part of the 17-man squad for the tri-series.
“Dhawal and Mohit will be part of our World Cup plans should any of the main bowlers get injured. That’s the major thinking behind them being here. At the same time, we have to play with the 15-man squad who also are part of the World Cup,” Dhoni said.
“If we feel it’s important we can give some extra time to a few individuals, then they will also be considered for selection” he added.
When asked about the much-debated inclusion of Stuart Binny in the World Cup squad, the skipper replied, “There are a few venues during the World Cup where it is important that we have a seaming all-rounder in the side. We are playing a couple games in Perth and another couple in New Zealand where the last time we toured there was not much purchase for the spinners.
“And that’s one area where he may come in. Irrespective of all the debate, the best seaming all-rounder of India has been picked in the World Cup side.”(PTI)
