Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma approved MS Dhoni's T20I snub: BCCI official

A day after former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was axed from India's T20I squad, it has emerged that both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were consulted by the selectors before they took the paramount call. A senior Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official has told news agency PTI that the decision to keep Dhoni out of the squads for home T20I series against West Indies and the crucial away assignment against Australia was taken only after consultation with Kohli and Rohit.

"Obviously, the selectors and team management had a good deliberation on this issue. Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were present at the selection committee meeting. You think selectors could have gone ahead without their approval?," a senior BCCI official privy to selection policy told PTI on Saturday.

The national selection committee has shown first signs of phasing him out from one of the two limited-overs formats and T20 certainly seems to be more convenient for the five wise men.

"It's a given that Dhoni won't be around when next ICC World T20 happens in Australia in 2020. So, there wasn't any point continuing with him if he will not play World T20," the official said.

In the year 2018, Dhoni played seven T20 Internationals with an unbeaten 52 off 28 balls against South Africa being the highlight.

If that inning is taken out, Dhoni has scored 71 runs off 51 balls in the remaining six matches that he has played.

It's no secret that Dhoni is the first choice wicketkeeper for the England World Cup but a lot will depend on how he performs in the last three ODIs against West Indies. More so because he will again be out of match practice for the next two months till India play their next lot of ODIs from January to March.