‘I’m getting rid of Virat, I can get a good load of cash for him’ – Ex-England captain makes bold remark on RCB star

Former England captain Michael Vaughan was given a choice to sell, bench and retain among MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

New Delhi: Imagine you are given the names of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and asked to sell one, retain one and bench one. All three are among the biggest crowd-pullers in world cricket and can go into any team any given time any day. The task can be a nightmare for the person sitting on the opposite side of the table. A similar thing happened with former England captain Michael Vaughan.

Anyone given this task would probably pick all three in the team because of what they bring on the table. But Vaughan made look so simple that even the host couldn’t believe it. The former right-hander made no hesitation in picking the two-time World Cup-winning Dhoni among the three.

“I’m playing MS Dhoni. I don’t think anyone’s been better. No (Virat doesn’t find a place). MS is the captain. He’s playing,” Vaughan said. When it comes to IPL, Dhoni is arguably one of the greatest players with five IPL trophies under his leadership. He is also IPL’s most-capped player with 264 matches.

Although Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket in 2019, Dhoni continues to play in IPL for Chennai Super Kings and is the six-highest leading run-scorer in the tournament with 5243 runs at an average of 39 and a strike rate of 137.

Asked about selling among Kohli and Rohit, Vaughan said, “What was the other thing? selling? I’m getting rid of Virat. I’m getting rid of him because he’s never won the IPL. Rohit is a six-time winner. MS how many? Five! So I’m playing MS, I’m selling Virat. What was the other one? Yeah, so Rohit is my MS substitute,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kohli is the top run-getter in IPL with 8004 runs in 251 matches. In fact, he is the only cricketer to have played for a single franchise all his life in IPL and never won the trophy. Vaughan said that selling Kohli would be ‘good business’.

“I can get a good load of cash for him. He’ll go somewhere else for a huge amount of money. That’s good business,” he added. Former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist, who was also on the show, echoed Vaughan. “That’s well thought through (by Vaughan). You’re splitting hair, it’s tough on all, but that’s the job of a manager, isn’t it?”