Former India pacer RP Singh revealed that he wasn’t affected by his ouster from the national team during a One-Day International home series against England in 2008 due to the selection-meeting leak which courted controversy.
Singh featured in the first two ODIs of the five-match series but did not play the remaining matches as India won the series 5-0.
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It was reported that the then captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had threatened to resign as selectors chose to drop Singh and bring in Irfan Pathan after the third ODI in Kanpur. Former India captain Dhoni had described the leak as “disgusting and disrespectful” and was disappointed by the fact that discussed in selection meetings were being revealed to the media.
Looking back at that incident and his career of 14 Tests, 58 ODIs and 10 T20 Internationals, RP Singh said he had no hard feelings over his axing.
He said to Sports Tak: “I don’t think I was affected by the leak. The England series we are talking about, I didn’t get a wicket in Indore. Obviously people think they will get two or three more chances. But it was not meant to be. Some get five chances, some get 10 chances the lucky ones.”
Singh, part of India’s 2007 T20 World Cup-winning team, termed Dhoni as an unbiased captain, who backed players that could do the job for him. He said their friendship never affected the wicketkeeper-batsman’s decisions for the team.
“We [Dhoni and I] had a discussion about where I could improve, what I can do to get better. I know MS Dhoni. Friendship is a different thing, but leading the country is different altogether. At that moment, I think he pushed the ones who he thought were better. I think he pushed people whom he thought would follow the plans better,” he said.
“This is why MS Dhoni is MS Dhoni today. His unbiased opinions on cricket and decision making. I didn’t play as much as I should have because maybe my speed dipped and my swing dipped. Everything else is secondary. If I had improved then, I would have played more. But I am happy with whatever I achieved.”
A much younger Dhoni captained the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. RP Singh said Dhoni got captaincy early in his career for a reason.
“They [senior players] should have seen something different. Today when we see MS Dhoni... he has gone to become a big name and had a massive impact on world cricket. They saw his calmness, his match awareness as a keeper. Batting potential was always there, his keeping was also improving a great deal.
“But the most important thing was the balanced temperament, his off the field behaviour. When we talk about the selection [as captain], his match awareness and his ability to take the game forward should have played a big role,” he added.
RP Singh played his last match for India in 2011 during an ODI against England but felt his form had dipped after he rushed into his recovery following a hamstring injury which he suffered in 2008.
“After the recovery, I played domestic cricket and then played international cricket again. But I feel I was not able to accept that I made a few mistakes. Had someone else been there to mentor me I would have handled it better,” the 34-year-old said.
“I recovered from the injury but I could have taken more time to get back on the field. I was worried about my place. If I stay out of the team for a while then I might lose my place. That’s why I trained harder and felt that I was fit but the benchmark I achieved as a bowler, maybe to reach there I would have taken one more month. That was one of the biggest mistakes I made that I came back earlier than I should have. My pace went down. From 140 [kmph] plus I went to back to 130-135 again,” he added.
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