New gameplan

Dubai: The Champions Trophy, struggling to find a slot after being postponed once, should be scrapped, according to former Indian captain and commentator Ravi Shastri. "For me, it's dead...it's past it's sell-by date," said the man known for not pulling back his punches.

Holding forthwith Gulf News during his visit to the city, where he was an invitee at the LG ICC Awards, Shastri felt that such an event - held every two years - devalues the World Cup because of too much "sameness."

The ICC, according to him, should either come up with a different product which is more innovative or give the players a break when they can concentrate on the domestic calendar.

Asked about why he holds such a radical view of the event, which was once billed as the "mini World Cup", Shastri said: "With an event like the Twenty-20 World Cup in place now, the governing body should really give it a thought about scrapping it. I know there are commitments like the television, but am sure they can all sit together and formulate a gameplan."

The heartening performance of Dhoni's young team, which just won the one-day series in Sri Lanka, came up for discussion along the way. The current year has seen them winning the tri-series in Australia - a last frontier of sorts and now, this.

"Their aim should now be to be the best one-day side. If all goes well, Dhoni's men should be one of the top contenders for 2011 World Cup,"

While the success of Young Turks has often opened up a senior-junior debate in the Indian team recently, Shastri said: "I am not somebody who thinks about youth, youth and youth all the time but there should be a balance, and the present team has it. The balance may change and vary in different forms of cricket but the bottomline is fitness and each player should be at the top of his form. Whatever one has done in the past should not count."

Making the way

What about dropping Sourav Ganguly from the Rest of India squad? "It's not the question of any individual, it's about building a team. You cannot discard all seniors at one go, but at the same time, one must get some young blood in. Hence at some point of time, one or two of them will have to make way," he felt.

Regarded as a shrewd cricketing brain, Shastri himself is bowled over with Dhoni's progress as a captain. "He's fantastic. I cannot say he is perfect, but then captaincy is not something you learn overnight. Being an instinctive leader, Dhoni may still have to learn a few things tactically, but then one thing you cannot accuse him of is not trying," he observed.

On Indian coach Gary Kirsten's recent comments that the stumper is ready for Test captaincy, Shastri said: "At the moment, Anil (Kumble) has done a fantastic job. My idea would be keep him for another season and given the kind of individual that Anil is, he will go up to the selectors and say my time's up. Dhoni is ready."

'Tendulkar makes a big difference'

Ravi Shastri feels that the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who missed out on the recent one-day series in Sri Lanka, is not "picking and choosing" his tours. "It's a case of injuries and the selectors resting him for certain ODI series. He is there for the big ones…for example, the tri-series in Australia where he got two centuries. What more do you want? You have got to look after him in the evening of his career," he said.

"Sachin makes a difference with his personality in the dressing room. There is no substitute for him," Shastri added.