Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Thursday reckoned that the appointment of MS Dhoni as the mentor of the Indian team for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup is attributed to his experience and mindset of handling pressure in crunch games.
Gambhir also felt that young players in the squad will benefit a lot from Dhoni’s experiences as captain and handling pressure situations.
Speaking exclusively on STAR SPORTS show FOLLOW THE BLUES, Gambhir weighed in on Dhoni’s position as the mentor for Team India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and said: “A good story to have, but I’m sure his (MS Dhoni) role will be defined, because you’ve got the head coach, the assistant coach and the bowling coach. So, I’m sure there has to be something from Virat Kohli or Ravi Shastri on what they would want apart from what they already have because India has been very successful in T20 Cricket.”
“It’s not like India has struggled in T20 Cricket. Had India struggled in T20 cricket, they might have had to get someone from outside, but Dhoni’s experience and his mindset of handling pressure in those crunched games could be one reason why they’ve got him as a mentor – not purely from the skill point of view, because these guys have got all the skill, to go out there and deliver. It’s probably, how to handle pressure during those important games because India had missed out on those important games – especially the Knockout games,” he added.
Further, explaining his opinion, Gambhir said: “So probably MS’ Dhoni’s experience of captaining this side and handling that pressure in those important games could be a huge advantage for young players. And you have to remember that most of these guys are young, for example, your Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy or any of these batters play – they’ve not been to any of the world cups. So, I’m sure MS will share his experience. That probably is the only thing I can think of; apart from that, I don’t see that MS Dhoni change anything from a skill point of view.”
“Ravi Shastri’s been there, Vikram Rathour has been there, and the entire support staff is there. So, probably MS can only add his experience to the players while probably going into the crunch games,” he added.
Earlier late on Wednesday evening, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had made the announcement of Dhoni’s appointment as India’s mentor for the T20 World Cup in the UAE in a virtual press conference beside announcing the squad for the showpiece event, which will be held in the UAE after the IPL 2021.