Is MS Dhoni fitter than a guy 10 years younger than him ?

Dhoni
Ravi Shastri again takes a dig at MS Dhoni’s critics. Image Source: twitter

Internet Desk: Indian cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri feels that former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is more fitter than a player who is 10 years younger to him and beside that he also took a dig at Mahi’s critics by saying that they should look at their own careers before they talk about him.

A few cricket pundits started questing about MS Dhoni’s future after some of his failures in the recent past. Though the Jharkhand maestro performed really well against Sri Lanka in the recently concluded limited-overs series to silence his critics.

“We are not stupid. I have been watching this sport for the last 30-40 years. Virat has been a part of this team for a decade now. We know, at this age, he (Dhoni) can beat players aged 26. People who talk, forget that they played the game,” Shastri told a news channel.

A few days back, MSK Prasad made it clear that no youngsters have yet matched to Dhoni’s fitness and his glove work behind the wicket is still top class. Shastri too said the same this about the former skipper.

“If they look at themselves in the mirror and ask the question, ‘what they were at the age of 36?’. Would they have run two runs faster? But the time they finish two, this guy will run three. Then he has won two World Cups and averages 51. Till today you don’t have a wicket-keeper to replace him in the one-day team,” he asserted.

Shastri said Dhoni’s skill-set is not easy to find and it would take some time before a replacement comes along. “He is still one of the best around, not only in the Indian team, but in the world. Some of the things you see with him are not sold in the market. You will not get it anywhere else,” he said. “The fact that he does not play Test cricket, means he should be playing as much cricket as possible till the World Cup in 2019.”

Shastri also spoke about the upcoming tour of South Africa, which starts with a three-match Test series from January 5. The team is scheduled to depart on December 27 and would be aiming to secure its first Test series triumph on the South African soil.

“For us all opposition is the same, all oppositions have to be respected and every game is a home match. As it turns out, next we are in South Africa. Where South Africa is different is that we haven’t won a series in South Africa,” he said.

“Therein lies a massive opportunity for the team to do something special. The belief is there. We are going there and we will treat South Africa like we treat any other opposition we have played against. There will be respect but we will go there to win,” he added.

Shastri heaped praise on Kohli, who took a break from the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka after a massively successful year with the bat. “The great thing about Virat is his work ethic, his realisation of what kind of player he can become and what he it takes to become that player… And it has become part of his lifestyle.

“What happens is, that when you have a captain in that frame of mind, wanting to achieve things others can only dream of. Then it rubs off on other players. Others want to emulate him. He wants to raise the bar for himself and he doesn’t want any room for excuses,” concluded Shastri.