While there is a lot to talk about after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the full 15-member Indian squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, the news that has taken most of the netizens by storm is the inclusion of Team India’s demi-god in the shortest format, master tactician, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, himself in the flesh, as the Men in Blues’ lead mentor for the showpiece event.
One of India’s most successful captains and currently the BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly, has spoken on the record about how Dhoni’s move as a mentor came into being. Dada, as he is referred to by his fans, is delighted to have former Indian Captain Cool MSD on board as Team India’s mentor for the T20 WC being hosted in the UAE and Oman.
In a tweet shared by the BCCI on Thursday (September 9), Ganguly’s statement on the development highlighted how great an impact Dhoni’s addition to the Virat Kohli-led side creates ahead of the all-important mega event.
“.@SGanguly99, President, BCCI is delighted with the move to have @msdhoni on board as #TeamIndia mentor for the #T20WorldCup” read the post shared on BCCI’s official Twitter handle.
BCCI boss Ganguly officially stated the following after Dhoni accepted the role of a lead mentor amidst the likes of Ravi Shastri, Vikram Rathour, and other experienced support staff being a part of the Indian setup for the T20 World Cup.
“MS Dhoni’s addition to the side is a way to use his experience for the T20 World Cup. I also thank Dhoni for accepting BCCI’s offer to help the team for this tournament.” Ganguly said.
Having had immense success as a skipper in all three formats of the game, especially in the shortest format, as well as still leading the ranks in the biggest franchise cricket league of the world — IPL, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) talisman is all about the expression; actions (read as trophies) speak louder than words (read as promises).
MS Dhoni is the Men in Blue’s most bonafide cricketing brain ever by any measure of gauging performance in the gentleman’s game. Dhoni inspired India to a famous victory at the inaugural ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2007 and later led the team to a runner-up and a semi-finalist finish in the years later. With 98 T20Is and 211 IPL caps to his credit, Dhoni is synonymous with success in the shortest format of the game — Twenty20 cricket.
Speaking of the Indian squad that MSD will be sharing his brilliant cricketing mind with, here’s how Team India looks like on paper as of now:
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami
Standby players: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar
The marquee tournament starts October 17 onwards in the UAE right after the second phase of IPL 2021.
