Kiran More blames MS Dhoni's retirement for Indian spinners' struggles in ODI cricket

Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Kiran More has commented on the Indian team’s bowling performance in the ongoing India vs Australia 2020 series. The Indian team started off the tour with the ODI series which they lost 1-2 but later went on to win the 3-match T20I series by the same margin. They are now scheduled to play the Test match series before completing their tour Down Under.

More had his say on the spin department of the Indian team which consisted of Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja. He went on to say Australia’s spinners in Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson, Adam Zampa and lastly, Glenn Maxwell performed better than the touring team. He says how the Australian team spinner outperformed the Indians which had a heavy effect on the result in the limited-overs matches of the India vs Australia 2020 series.

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Kiran More singled out the absence of MS Dhoni behind the stumps as one of the main reasons for the ineffectiveness of Indian spinners. He mentioned how the Indian bowlers could not find get wickets at crucial intervals and leaked runs. The former Indian wicket keeper reveals how Dhoni’s guidance from behind the stumps to the Indian spinners such as Kuldeep, Chaha, and Jadeja helped them a lot.

Yuzvendra Chahal's ODI series in Australia: Kiran More speaks on Indian spinners

Speaking with former India batsman WV Raman in his podcast named ‘Inside Out’, More spoke about Dhoni’s importance to the Indian spinners. He said how Dhoni, during that time, constantly kept giving advice to bowlers on what length or line to bowl. He spoke about how Dhoni made them comfortable by talking in Hindi. More feels that now in Dhoni’s absence behind the wickets, the Indian spinners are clearly struggling.

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More observed that bowlers such as Kuldeep and Jadeja are no longer the same bowlers and less efficient now. The former keeper credited Dhoni for performing his role to the very best of his ability over 10-12 years with success as Virat Kohli could stay in the outer circle while fielding as captain. However, the Indian team captain now has to either stand at short cover or mid-off so that he can communicate with his bowlers.

MS Dhoni retired from international cricket earlier this year when he announced the same via a social media post in August. Since then, KL Rahul has mostly been keeping wickets for the Indian team in white-ball matches.

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Are teams looking for their MS Dhoni?

Kiran More went on to talk about the impact MS Dhoni had in world cricket as other national cricket teams are looking at their keeper-batsmen as a potential captain after watching Dhoni’s success. More warned other nations that there cannot be another MS Dhoni since he was a wicketkeeper-batsman who could read the game from the best position in the ground and yet captain the side with ease.

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