New Delhi: The BCCI on Wednesday pulled off the biggest surprise of the season by convincing a reticent Mahendra Singh Dhoni to become the national team's mentor for the T20 World Cup while bringing back senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from his white-ball wilderness.
India captain Virat Kohli might be on an all-time high as he chases history to become the first to win Test series in England and Australia but it can be said with a degree of certainty that his style and philosophy of leadership doesn't have too many takers in the current India camp.
His inability to win an ICC trophy seems to be a major factor in the inclusion of India's greatest captain in the set-up, a year after he announced retirement. "Former India Captain M S Dhoni to mentor the team for the T20 World Cup," announced BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a press conference to unveil the 15-member squad for the event scheduled to start October 17 in the UAE and Oman.
"(I) spoke to him (MSD) in Dubai. He agreed to be mentor for WT20 only and I discussed with my colleagues and all are on same page. I spoke to captain (Virat Kohli) and vice captain (Rohit Sharma) and everyone agreed," Shah added.
India will open their campaign against Pakistan on October 24.
Being the only Indian captain to win all three ICC white ball trophies, the 40-year-old astute leader knows how to pull off big games and with only six months left in head coach Ravi Shastri's tenure, it is understood that Dhoni's suggestions will have a great bearing on how the head coach and captain select their playing XI in the UAE.
Not to forget that Dhoni is also Rishabh Pant's mentor, someone the young man from Rourkee trusts implicitly.
In a dressing room where mindset can be cluttered, Dhoni's presence is definitely set to help Pant play his game without any disturbance. During the past four Tests against England, despite India's steady performance, the 34-year-old Ashwin's exclusion did stick out like a sore thumb with Kohli unable to give any logical explanation.
It has been reliably learnt that it's primarily the skipper and not the coaching staff who is against fielding Ashwin in the playing XI during the current series. In this scenario and for a captain, who has not had any faith in the senior spinner's white-ball capabilities for the past four years, it would have been really surprising that the he would have wanted the straight-talking Tamil Nadu tweaker in his limited overs set-up.
"Ashwin is an asset. He performed well in the IPL and we needed a player of his experience. We need an off-spinner with Washington (Sundar) injured. Ashwin is the only specialist off-spinner in the squad," chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma answered a PTI query during the press meet.
Now this is an open secret in Indian cricket that former pacer Chetan hasn't been on the same page with Kohli since the time he has taken over. Their difference of opinion on the selection of Abhimanyu Easwaran in the Test squad for England made headlines not too long back.
However, Chetan is believed to have had support from BCCI brass as well as at least one influential senior player, who is convinced that Ashwin's inclusion was a must taking the Dubai ground into
consideration.