The former India captain will work with head coach Ravi Shastri and the rest of the coaching staff throughout the tournament.
The BCCI on Wednesday announced a 15-man squad and three standbys, which will be led by Virat Kohli.
While the selectors were in the process of pulling the team out of a much larger pool over the past few weeks, BCCI secretary Jay Shah spoke with Kohli and Shastri about the idea of bringing in Dhoni as a mentor before making an offer to Dhoni. Of.
It was an offer the former India wicketkeeper-batsman could not refuse as the board insisted that his rich experience in the format, and the fact that he was the first captain to win the tournament 14 years ago, helped the team. Will help a lot. .
Dhoni immediately agreed to Shah’s request and will now join the team soon after the Indian Premier League (IPL) Phase-II, which is also being played in the United Arab Emirates. The Chennai Super Kings captain will be in the UAE, leading his franchise in the tournament which will be his cricketing swansong.
“I spoke to Dhoni when I was in Dubai. He had agreed to become a mentor for the T20 World Cup. After the announcement of the team, Shah told reporters, “The captain, vice-captain and head coach were consulted, so he is on board.”
Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been in the news recently for not being a part of the Test matches against England, has been picked in the T20 squad.
chief selector Chetan Sharma Said that a bowler like Ashwin would be extremely useful in UAE conditions, he has done well in the IPL and further noting that young Washington Sundar is injured.
“He will add a lot to the balance of the team,” Sharma said.
Bowling all-rounder Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who played the recent white-ball series in Sri Lanka under Rahul Dravid’s coaching, has also been picked.
Notable absences have the opener Shikhar Dhawan Who has been out despite being the top scorer in Phase-1 of IPL 2020 and IPL 2021. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who performed well in the 2020 edition of the IPL and has been consistent in Team India’s white-ball plans, was also overlooked.
In some other surprising decisions, the selectors have kept talented middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer – who has just returned from an injury – on standby along with all-rounders Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar.
Barring these aspects, the rest of the team has chosen itself.
The squad of 15 consists of three openers (including Kohli), five all-rounders, two wicketkeeper-batsmen, three fast bowlers, one spinner and one specialist middle-order batsman. The standby consists of a middle-order batsman and two all-rounders.
“The idea was to pick as many players as possible keeping in mind the conditions in the UAE,” Sharma said while announcing the squad.
Sharma also added that all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who Cricket After a long injury break last year and bowling restricted, he is now ready to bowl his full overs in T20Is.
.