New coach must understand Indian culture, says Dhoni

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is looking forward to the challenge of working with a different set of players when he leads a second string squad to a limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe.

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy the game, this decision (on captaincy) will be taken by the BCCI, it’s not up to me to decide on that”.

For one thing, as has already been pointed out, the 16-member squad is hugely inexperienced – five of them are uncapped at the worldwide level, while the combined experience of 15 members of the team (83 ODIs and 28 T20Is) is just a third of the entire match experience of the person who will be leading them, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

I enjoy my game, captaincy decision will be taken by the BCCI, the skipper said. “[With] lots of worldwide coaches, the problem is that we play a lot of cricket”, he added.

“As a young team, we’ve all played with each other in age group cricket and to get an opportunity to play under MS Dhoni is very exciting”, added KL Rahul.

With the BCCI stating in its advertisement that it will be desirable for India’s next head coach to know Hindi, Dhoni believed that more than language, the person should understand the country’s culture.

Test skipper Virat Kohli’s recent record-breaking runs have sparked a debate in the country, with many suggesting that the swashbuckling player should succeed Dhoni as the skipper in all formats of the game. “Zimbabwe can be challenging, but when it comes to talent aspect the squad looks good, in fact majority have been rewarded for the domestic performances, majority are good fielders that will be another part of cricket”, he explained further. “It’s a good team”, he said.

After making 71 in his debut innings, he went on to play three ODIs in Australia including the one at Sydney where he scored a match-winning 104 to guide India to their sole win of the five-match series.

Dhoni felt toss would be a crucial factor as all were day games.

This tour of Zimbabwe might seem a walk in the park for some but more than the results, this tour is extremely crucial for Dhoni in various other aspects. There are not many places in the world where you play day games. You have to accordingly adapt and use conditions to your advantage.

With the standards of fielding in worldwide cricket getting higher, Pandey, who is also remembered for his stunning catch in the Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai in 2010, said he devotes as much time to fielding as his batting. “It is very different because it is still a form of domestic cricket”, he said.

“We do not face much problem with communication”, Dhoni told reporters on the eve of the Indian team’s departure for a limited-overs series in Zimbabwe. The kind of players coming these days, English is not a big barrier. “Jayant (Yadav) is there”, he said. “I feel depending on IPL, you can’t say too much”, he said. We need to select the best available.