Mohinder Amarnath on MS Dhoni: If you want to play for India, you have to play for your state

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Mohinder Amarnath claims that MS Dhoni has to play regularly and perform consistently for his state team in order to keep his spot in the Indian limited-overs squad. Amarnath added that despite the absence of Steven Smith and David Warner, Australia can still outplay India in the ongoing series.

India registered an emphatic ODI series win against Windies on home soil last month while they also drew against the Aussies in the T20I series. World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni was part of the team that played Jason Holder & Co. but found it hard to get some time with the bat considering the form of the upper-order Indian batsmen.

The seasoned wicket-keeper was rested for the three-match T20I series against Australia last month as Indian selectors chose to offer Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik some crucial game time with the Indian team ahead of next year’s ICC 2019 World Cup to be played in England & Wales.

Former India all-rounder and selector Mohinder Amarnath feels that Dhoni and other senior Indian players have to play domestic cricket in order to be selected in the national limited-overs team. Despite having time on his hands, the former captain did not play the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy this year and will go into the three-match series in Australia next month without any match practice.

“Every individual is different but one thing I have always believed in is that if you want to play for India you have to play for your state as well. I think they (BCCI) should change this policy altogether. A lot of senior players don’t play domestic cricket,” Amarnath told PTI sources.

While talking about the ongoing Test series in Australia, Amarnath said India are undoubtedly the favourites but the home team are capable of giving them a run for their money even in the absence of banned duo - Steve Smith and David Warner.

“Australian cricketers think differently. It is not the first time they are going through this kind of phase. At the time of Kerry Packer series, they lost their top players, they toured South Africa without their top players and now they don’t have their top two players and some of the guys have retired.

“They are in the process of building a new team. But from what I watched in the first Test, some of the players are really good. You can’t just rule Australia out of the series. Of course India are more superior but again they have to continue playing good cricket. First Test was a fantastic Test match from a cricketing point of view. The only difference was Cheteshwar Pujara. It shows we are here for a thrilling series with advantage India,” the 68-year-old added.

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