N Srinivasan saved Dhoni from being sacked as captain in 2012: Former selector Raja Venkat

Raja Venkat, a national selector from the East Zone from 2008 50 2012, has revealed that the selectors had unanimously agreed to sack Dhoni in 2012 after India lost eight consecutive away Tests in England and Australia, only for then-BCCI president Srinivasan to overrule them. According to an Indian Express report , Venkat, in his column for a Bengali tabloid, wrote that selectors had decided “a change of guard was necessary” to restore some pride to India’s Test record that was going from bad to worse. [caption id=“attachment_2292918” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File picture of MS Dhoni (L) and Virat Kohli (R). PTI[/caption] Venkat’s comments confirm what former selector Mohinder Amarnath said in 2012. Amarnath said then that the Board President did not approve the selectors unanimous decision to remove Dhoni and also that the captain was not chosen by the selectors, but by ‘someone else’. “My question is, you have a selection committee those who think what is best for Indian cricket then why they are not given a free hand,” Amarnath said.. Venkat also claimed that team spirit had hit rock bottom in Australia as a result of the losses and that Amarnath and Hirwani, who were in Australia with the team, came back and reported that there were multiple factions in the side at this point. The selector’s solution was to appoint Virat Kohli, who had made his Test debut earlier that year, as captain “We wanted someone who could restore unity in the team,” Venkat said. “We had unanimously decided to bring in a new captain. We believed Dhoni’s time was up and Virat should take over,”