Dhoni ‘invaluable’ if he keeps performing – Dravid

Giving up captaincy will put MS Dhoni under pressure to keep performing in limited-overs cricket, but he will remain an “invaluable” member of India’s side if he manages to do so, Rahul Dravid has said. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Dravid, the former India captain and current coach of the India A and India Under-19 sides, said Dhoni’s experience and knowledge would be “priceless” to Virat Kohli, who will most likely take over the captaincy, if he continues to earn his place in the side with bat and wicketkeeping gloves.

“There is no doubt that someone of MS Dhoni’s experience and ability, when playing well, is invaluable to the side,” Dravid said. “That’s the kind of experience and knowledge and ability, under pressure especially. It is not easy to find and not easy to get.

“The question obviously remains that you need to earn your place in the team and you need to do it with performances. So at his best and performing really well, a guy like MS Dhoni is invaluable to India’s one-day team, especially in the big tournaments coming up. But I think that’ll also be decided by his own performances and his own ability. I think now he’ll really be judged on how he performs and can he hold his place in the side purely in terms of his wicket-keeping and batting. And that’ll be up to him.

“And I guess if you’re Virat Kohli, you’ll actually be hoping that MS Dhoni does really well and is able to hold on to his place. Because you would like that kind of experience performing well in the team. Just that knowledge would be priceless for Virat Kohli to have.”

Dravid felt the timing of Dhoni’s decision was “really …

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