There have been talks of legendary India captain MS Dhoni being offered the role of mentor for the national side for the upcoming Men's T20 Asia Cup 2025,
as the Suryakumar Yadav-led side is set to defend their title in the continental tournament, which starts September 9. However, there is no confirmation on whether Dhoni has accepted the mentorship role, reportedly offered to him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Meanwhile, former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has said that it is really difficult to say whether the veteran wicketkeeper-batter will accept the role with the Indian team or not, since it is not easy to reach out to the latter via phone or messages. But if he does, Tiwary has expressed that he will be quite keen to see what the duo of the head coach Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni bring to the table.
"Only time will tell (if Dhoni accepts the role). He has been offered the mentor's role, but has he picked up the phone? Because as far as I know, it is really difficult to get in touch with him on phone. He rarely responds even to the messages. A lot of players have confirmed this. We do not know what his reply would be if he sees the text message. If he does accept, then his experience as a captain and player will be very useful, as the new players emerging today and becoming stars of the Indian team give him a lot of respect. The pairing of MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir will also be worth watching," Tiwary was quoted as saying by Navbharat Times.
Dhoni mentored India at T20 World Cup 2021
Notably, Dhoni has acted as the Indian team's mentor during the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup as well. The Indian team was led by the then skipper Virat Kohli, but despite packing a star-studded line-up, the team failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the global event. With the Ranchi-born reported to be back as a mentor, it will be fascinating to see what he brings to the table with cricketing intellect and acumen.
India squad: Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy
