We are moving on, says chief selector MSK on Dhoni

Selection committee chairman MSK Prasad on Thursday said they are "moving on", clearly indicating that veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not in their scheme of things anymore.

His committee will instead focus on Rishabh Pant, Dhoni's natural heir, Prasad said.

"This is our clear thought process that post World Cup we are focusing on Rishabh Pant only," he said.

When the question on Dhoni's future in international cricket was repeated, the chief selector added, "I made it very clear post the World Cup that we are moving on. We are giving opportunities to youngsters and see that they establish themselves in the side.

"With Rishabh Pant doing so well and even Sanju Samson coming into the side, I am sure you must be understanding our thought process."
"Of course, he might not have the best of the matches, the way we expect of him, but we can still only make a player by backing somebody. So we are confident that he will come out successful and that's been the thought process post World Cup and we are focusing on Rishabh Pant."
"Going into domestic cricket, getting his touch back or thoughts about retirement, everything is purely his personal decision. We've already laid the roadmap for future, I'm sure you can see in the way we are selecting the teams."
"Earlier we had Hardik Pandya, then we also tried Vijay Shankar. All of us agreed in unison that the role we have, he (Dube) fits in very well. He bats aggressively, his performances in the India A Series in West Indies and also against South Africa in the ODIS (for India A) was phenomenal. He has gone up by leaps and bounds, a notch higher and we are convinced about it."