Old rival Sehwag launches fresh attack on MSD, "doors are closed"

Ahmedabad: Legendary former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag on Tuesday said he did not think former skipper and wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be able to come back in Team India, even if he performed well in the coming IPL.  

Talking to newspersons here, Sehwag, who was in Ahmedabad for the opening of his first sportswear and accessories store Brand VS, said, ''In my view, it looked highly unlikely that Dhoni would be able to make a comeback in Team India through IPL. 

''First of all, we should understand that once the selectors decide to 'move on' in case of a particular player, then the comeback becomes very difficult. The second thing is that even if Dhoni plays well in the IPL, who would he replace in Team India? 

''Currently K L Rahul, who is also doing wicket-keeping, is performing exceptionally well. For Dhoni to make a comeback replacing him, is next to impossible. He can't also think of replacing a much younger Rishabh Pant,'' the former opener added.

To a query regarding skipper Virat Kohli's current poor form, Sehwag told UNI that such lean phases in the career of great players was not uncommon. 

''Virat is also a human being, not a God. He played very well for so long and only performed poorly in the test series in England and recently in New Zealand. Legends like Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh also had such lean patches. ''I have full faith that once the series in India is revivedor during the coming IPL, he will certainly return to form. I am even now not seeing any problem with his technique, temperament or attitude,'' he added.

On being asked about the Team India's prospects in the coming T 20 World Cup to be played in Australia, Sehwag said the return of a superb all-rounder like Hardik Pandya would give a much-needed balance to the team combination. He, however, said that in the shorter format of T 20 matches, no team could really be favourite as any one player on the day of the match could change the result with his performance alone.

To another query about the poor performance of erstwhile dominant teams like Mumbai and Delhi in domestic circuit, especially Ranji Trophy, where they earlier dominated the arena and rise of small teams like Gujarat and this time's champion Saurashtra off-late, Sehwag said as the smaller teams had lesser or no players playing at the top level, they were less prone to injuries and the team maintained it's combination throughout the Ranji trophy. 

This one combination  across the series helped such teams perform better. In case of teams like Mumbai and Delhi, their bigger players mostly were not available to play in Ranji Trophy, as they played for Team India and other big tournaments. They were also more prone to injures. Whenever such players performed, the bigger teams certainly had a better show, he added.  

(UNI)