Dhoni would pave way for “better” captain

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Mahendra Singh Dhoni would
readily step aside as India captain if there was a suitable
replacement available, the under-fire skipper said today.
“It’s not something I want to hold on to or stick on to. If
there’s a better replacement, it’s a very open thing, he can
come in,” Dhoni told reporters on the eve of India’s first
Twenty20 international against Australia.
“At the end of the day, you want India to perform. If there
is someone who can do a better job, then it’s a place that
should be given to him. It’s not something you have to cling on
to,” he said.
“It’s not a position that belongs to anyone. The
responsibility was given to me three-and-half years back and I
have been trying to fit into the shoes, trying to get along with
the team and perform well wherever we play.”
Under Dhoni, India won the Twenty20 (2007) and 50-over World
Cups (2011) and became the top-ranked test nation before the
team’s spectacular decline started in England last year.
The team did not win a single match on that tour, losing the
test series 4-0, and further humiliation awaited them in
Australia, where they succumbed to their second successive
whitewash abroad.
Dhoni missed the last test in Adelaide, having incurred a
one-match ban for the team’s slow over rate in Perth, but his
leadership was as much criticised as the senior batsmen’s
failure in the 4-0 series loss in Australia.
Dhoni did not endear himself to the fans and former
cricketers either by hinting he might quit tests to focus on
2015 World Cup.
“I definitely feel that Dhoni does not enjoy test cricket,”
his former captain Sourav Ganguly recently told Aaj Tak channel.
“His performance in test and one-day cricket are poles apart
and by making such a statement, he has also perhaps explained
his complete disinterest in the longer format of the game,”
Ganguly added.