MS Dhoni reveals reasons behind stepping down as captain

During his time as the captain of Indian cricket team, MS Dhoni took the team to greatness in number of ways. Be it in the T20Is, ODIs or Test cricket, Dhoni made his magic work, guiding India to the set of ICC trophies as well as No.1 ranking in the formats.

His highlight during captaincy career was guiding the team to a World Cup success in 2011, as well as winning the World T20 in 2007 and ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Undoubtedly, Mahi was the best captain of India in terms of trophies, and was backed to lead the team to further success.

But he surprised most people by stepping down as the captain in ODIs and T20Is in 2017, handing the reigns to Virat Kohli, the same man who took over as the Test captain when Dhoni quit the format in 2014. 

Now, ahead of the Asia Cup 2018, the wicketkeeper-batsman has revealed the reasons behind the decision. He told media, "I resigned from captaincy because I wanted the new captain to get enough time for preparing a team before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Selecting a strong team without giving the new captain appropriate time isn't possible. I believe that I left the captaincy at the right time."

With Kohli being excluded, Dhoni will be playing under Rohit Sharma for the upcoming tournament. The much-awaited Asia Cup 2018 will kickstart in UAE on September 15 when Bangladesh and Sri Lanka take on each other in the first match in Dubai. Unlike the 2016 edition, which was held in a T20 format, this year's tournament marks the return of the 50-over format. India are the defending champions, and are the most successful team in the tournament's history.

India will start the tournament as the favorite, despite missing the services of Kohli. Though, they must expect tough competition from Sarfraz Ahmed's Pakistan, who won the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. 

Then there are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who have quality in them, but don't seem much capable of posing threat to other two. Finally, Hong Kong will be expected to savor the chance of fighting against the best teams in the world, though, expecting them to spring a surprise is far-fetched.

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