Why MS Dhoni Still Holds the Most Power in Indian Cricket?

The BCCI is known for sacking captains, and this has taken place for more than a decade. But there was one captain whom even the BCCI could not sack. Instead, he went on to sack the selectors, and it was none other than MS Dhoni.

The Indian cricket team had various legendary captains. Some dominated in the Test format, like Virat Kohli, while others dominated in the ICC events, such as Kapil Dev and Rohit Sharma. But all of them suffered with one common fate. And who sacked them as the captain.

But there was one captain, even the selectors were not able to sack. Instead, he played the UNO Reverse card on the selectors and got them sacked. This is the aura of India's Captain Cool, also known as MS Dhoni. With Rohit Sharma joining the list of captains sacked by the selectors, Dhoni's name remains the only captain who removed the selectors.

1. Captain vs. Selection Committee

After the Indian team had won the 2011 World Cup, talks were made for the transition phase. This was done to ensure that the team is ready for the 2015 World Cup. As a result, only three players from the 2011 squad were able to make it to the next World Cup. The selection committee sacked 7 players, as revealed by Yograj Singh. , Gautam Gambhir.

The three players who made it to the next World Cup included Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Ravichandran Ashwin. But the BCCI selectors even wanted to sack Dhoni as the captain of the team. In 2012, the Indian team suffered two whitewashes against England and Australia.

After these two losses, the call was taken to sack Dhoni as the captain. Mohinder Amarnath, a former Indian cricketer, wanted to make this decision. Revealing the incident, Yograj said,"We lost 5 series when MS Dhoni was the captain and he was told he would be replaced by Mohinder Amarnath, but that's not the way to do it.”

BCCI President Takes Dhoni's Side

N Srinivasan, who was the BCCI President at that time, got informed of the talks. After getting to know all the discussion, he turned down the decision to sack Dhoni as the captain. Mohinder Amarnath said,"The Board President did not approve the unanimous decision to replace Mahendra Singh Dhoni.”

Several years later, N Srinivasan had an interview with a news agency, where he talked about the incident. He said,"This was 2011. India had won the World Cup. And in Australia, we didn't do well in the Tests. So, one of the selectors wanted to remove Dhoni as the ODI captain. The point is, how do you remove him as the ODI captain? He had won the World Cup [in April 2011]. The selectors had not even thought of who would be his replacement. There was a discussion and then [before the formal meeting], and I said there was no way in which he would not be a player .”

,"In fact, it was a holiday. I was playing golf. I came back. Sanjay Jagdale was the secretary at that time and he said, 'Sir, they are refusing to choose the captain. They will take him in the team [as a player].' I came and said that MS Dhoni would be the captain. I exercised all my authority as the president."

This shows that Mahendra Singh Dhoni played on his own terms. Further, Mohinder Amarnath was sacked as a selector, while Dhoni continued to lead the Indian team in the ODI format till 2016. After this, he passed on the captaincy to Virat Kohli, who earlier received the Test captaincy from Dhoni in 2014.

2. Captain Cool’s Backing of Rohit and Kohli

MS Dhoni is also known to have backed current stars such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli, India's best Test captain, was also appointed by Dhoni in 2014. When the Indian team struggled to win even in home conditions, to secure a historic series win in an away series.

Even when Virat Kohli stepped down as the captain of the team from the Test format, he mentioned the name of MS Dhoni in his post. Dhoni came out as the main reason why Kohli and Rohit were able to sustain in the line-up. And as soon as Dhoni retired in 2019, the pressure of the selectors began to mount on them.

The pressure was not only on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, but also on the other stars Dhoni brought to the team. This included Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin,  even in the Chennai Super Kings.

Over the past year, fans have seen Rohit Sharma being sacked as the ODI captain, retirements of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma from the Test format. As a fan of the ICT, fans wonder what would have happened if Dhoni were still there?