'It was a shock': Gautam Gambhir questions MS Dhoni's captaincy in 2012 CB series in Australia

Gautam Gambhir has come down hard on MS Dhoni's captaincy during the 2012 CB series in Australia. Gambhir, who recently announced his retirement from cricket, slammed Dhoni for the decisions taken during the 2012 series. 

Gambhir revealed how MS Dhoni told him that he couldn't play him, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag together in the ODI playing XI in the tri-series between Australia, India and Sri Lanka.. 

According to Gambhir, the reason given by Dhoni was that if all three senior players were played India would leak runs on the field. Dhoni also told Gambhir that he could only play two of them in the side as he wanted to give more opportunities to the youngsters before the 2015 World Cup.

“In the 2012 Tri-series in Australia, Dhoni declared that he can’t play all three (Gambhir, Sachin and Sehwag) of us together as he was looking ahead at the 2015 World Cup. It was a massive shock, I think it would have been a massive shock for any cricketer. I have not heard anyone be told in 2012 that they would never be a part of the 2015 World Cup. I always had the impression that if you keep scoring runs, age is a just a number,” Gambhir told India Today.

However, all three players were eventually included in the playing XI for some matches. Gambhir and Tendulkar played 7 matches in the series while Sehwag played in 5. 

With the Indian team struggling for results, Dhoni went back on his decision and included the trio in team in crucial matches.

Gambhir slammed the call saying "if you take a decision, back your decision. Don't back on something on which you have already decided".

“When we were in a desperate need to win a game, I remember in Hobart, Viru and Sachin opened and I batted at three with Virat batted at four. India won that game and we had to chase in 37 over. At the start of the series, we didn’t play together, it was a rotation thing. When it was a desperate moment, MS had to play three of us. If you take a decision, back your decision, stick to it. Don’t back on something on which you have already decided,” he added.

Gambhir also said that it was a "massive shock" to him that the team for the 2015 World Cup was being selected in 2012.

In the series, India won just three matches out of eight with one finishing in a tie and failed to reach the best of three final. Gambhir scored 308 runs in the series and was the second highest run-scorer for India behind Virat Kohli.