Gautam Gambhir is not one to mince his words and the southpaw opener did not hold back while being critical of former skipper MS Dhoni.
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“The only way he can survive till the 2019 World Cup is if he keeps performing.and that should be the criteria for irrespective of whether he is MS Dhoni or someone like Manish Pandey who’s been selected to play for the country,” Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo.
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Dhoni’s value to the side has been under the scanner since he gave up the captaincy in all formats. After all the 36 year-old is not the same player he was say even five years ago.
Gambhir just wants a fair trial for all cricketers and Dhoni’s past glory should nnot influence his stay in the team.
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“Okay, you have done something in the past but that’s passed. You can keep playing till you want to if you keep performing. At the same time I believe someone like Dinesh Karthik has been a massive loss for us because whenever he got an opportunity, he did well. He could have been your backup wicketkeeping option as well,” he added.
Having said that, Dhoni is still one of the fittest players in the world at the moment. It remains to be seen if he is there till 2019. For now, it’s safe to say he will be judged as a normal player.