Dinesh Karthik Apologises For Leaving Out MS Dhoni From His All-Time India Playing XI

Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik picked his best all-format India XI last week, and surprisingly, there was no mention of MS Dhoni in the list. Karthik’s decision to ignore Dhoni came as a surprise for cricket fans around the globe, and he faced a lot of backlash for it. But now, in the latest episode of HeyCB with DK, he has explained the reason why he didn’t include Dhoni.

According to Karthik, he completely forgot Dhoni’s name while picking the squad and realised it only after the video was out. He apologised to fans for leaving the 43-year-old out and said Dhoni is one of the greatest cricketers to have played the game.

“Bhai log bada galti ho gaya. Genuinely, it was a mistake. I realised it only when the episode came out. There were so many things happening that when I put this 11, I actually forgot the keeper. Luckily, Rahul Dravid was there, so everybody thought I put in a part-time wicketkeeper. But genuinely, I didn’t think of Rahul Dravid as a keeper,” he said.

According to Karthik, who announced his retirement in May 2024, Dhoni is a definite part of India’s all-time XI, and he will lead the side as well.

“Can you believe it? Being a wicketkeeper, I forgot to add a wicketkeeper. It is a blunder. Itna bada mistake I couldn’t have made. And for me, let’s make it very, very clear. Thala Dhoni is a lock-in in any format that I put. Not only in India, I believe he is one of the greatest cricketers ever to have played this sport. I genuinely believe that.”

“That team, if I had to do it again, that is the one change I will do. Thala Dhoni in at number 7, and he will be the captain of any Indian team that is there. No doubt about it,” he added.

In his all-time India XI, Karthik had picked Rohit Sharma and Virender Sehwag as openers and included Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virat Kohli at No. 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja were the two all-rounders, followed by two spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Anil Kumble, and two pacers, Jasprit Bumrah and Zaheer Khan.