CAC asked potential national selectors about the future of MS Dhoni in international cricket 

What's the story?

In the question and answer round of the two vacant posts in the Indian national cricket team's selection committee, the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) questioned the candidates about the future of MS Dhoni in their international.

"What will be your call on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's future with the Indian team?" was a common question that all the candidates were asked to answer.

The background

MSK Prasad and Gagan Khoda's tenures as national selectors had culminated, hence, the CAC had been assigned the task of picking new selectors.

After a long procedure, the Madan Lal-led committee announced Sunil Joshi as the new chairman of the selection panel whereas Harvinder Singh took the place of Khoda.

Lakshman Sivaramakrishnan was one of the strongest candidates to win this race, however, the 54-year-old could not clear the process.

The heart of the matter

Speaking to PTI on Wednesday (4th March), a senior BCCI official gave details about the selection process. Referring to the question about MS Dhoni's future, he said:

"Yes, the CAC had one common question and that was about their call with regards to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and whether they will select him for T20 World Cup."

The source further explained the reason behind the same and continued:

"Dhoni is both a sensitive and tricky issue and that's why the question needed to be asked."

According to sources close to this development, a few selectors were even asked if they wanted to become the chairman of the committee or if they'd only be happy with the post of a selector.

Sivaramakrishnan would not have been ready to work only as a selector while Joshi had no issues in losing his position as chairman.

This was a particularly important criterion for selection because there will be a shuffle in the selection committee after the tenures of Jatin Paranjpe, Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh culminate in September.

What's next?

Although there is a big question mark over MS Dhoni's future in international cricket, the veteran is set to return to the cricket field for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2020.