India’s cricket selectors have asked captain MS Dhoni to draw up a blueprint to win the 2015 World Cup, according to a report by NDTV. The channel says on its website that the selectors have conveyed their disappointment about losing the recent home Test series to England and have asked Dhoni to produce a plan for winning the next World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand.
Dhoni has also been asked to identify the players that he thinks could or should be part of the team in three years time. NDTV also cites sources saying Dhoni is not assured of being the Test captain for the home series against Australia that starts in February. His retention will depend on how India does in the one-day series against Pakistan and England.
Coach Duncan Fletcher and Indian captain MS Dhoni have both been heavily criticised recently. AP
Dhoni’s captaincy has come in for plenty of criticism since India’s capitulation to England in England last summer. India were the no 1 ranked Test team at the time, but lost that series 0-4. While India beat the West Indies 2-0 at home in a three-Test series, they were then whitewashed by Australia in Australia as well. So comprehensive was Australia’s domination, that India lost the third Test in Perth in less than three days.
At the time, Dhoni and the team management said India would return the favour when England and Australia came to India. However, England’s first series win in India in 28 years – they won the four Test series 2-1 – have left the board and the captain scrambling for answers and precipitated the current course of events.
Duncan Fletcher, India’s coach, is also reportedly on the way out, with the board not planning to renew his contract next year, the channel states.
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