Former Indian selector reveals the reason behind picking MS Dhoni as captain in 2007

Indian Cricket Team won 3 major ICC titles under MS Dhoni's captaincy.

Team India were having serious trouble back in early 2007 when they were knocked out from the World Cup 2007 in the group round and lost the ODI series in England. BCCI was looking for an option to replace Rahul Dravid after he stepped down from the leadership role. MS Dhoni came out of nowhere to lead India in limited overs and then in longer formats and made India win three ICC titles in his 8 years tenure. Former Indian selector Bhupinder Singh Senior has revealed the motive behind picking a 26-year-old wicket-keeper batter as a captain of the Indian team. 

Bhupinder Singh reveals the rational behind picking MS Dhoni as captain

Former Indian pacer Bhupinder Singh was part of the selection panel when MS Dhoni was appointed Team India’s captain for the World T20 2007 in South Africa. Bhupinder Singh said, “Apart from being an automatic choice, you look at the player’s cricketing acumen, body language, ability to lead from the front, and also man management skills. We saw Dhoni’s approach to the game, body language, how he spoke to the others and we got positive feedback”. Bhupinder Singh said in an interview with Hindustan Times discussing Rohit Sharma’s future as team India captain. 

India won the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup by defeating Pakistan in the final, in 2011 defeating Sri Lanka in the final, and 2013 Champions Trophy by defeating England in the final. India also became number one in the test format. India have failed to lift an ICC title after the 2013 Champions Trophy and have lost 4 finals, including two World Test Championship Finals consecutively in 2021 and 2023. Team India under Virat failed miserably in ICC events and now Rohit will have another challenge in front of him at ICC Cricket World Cup in October and November. India lost two consecutive knockout games under Rohit’s captaincy.