Former India skipper Rahul Dravid recently called India one of the favourites to win the 2019 World Cup and with the showpiece event round the corner, two players who will once again hold fort as India look to repose the faith of the fans and pundits will be skipper Virat Kohli and former skipper MS Dhoni. Speaking to Cricbuzz, chief coach Shastri has revealed that while the team might look to play Kohli at No.4 in English conditions, Dhoni is once in a generation cricketer whose boots will be tough to fill.

“And why just batting, you saw the run-out of James Neesham on Sunday. That was Dhoni at his very best, like a con artist. He was not even looking at the ball, and the run-out was done in a flash, and it changed the course of that game. He is superb with the gloves, and from behind the stumps he really guides the wrist spinners because he understands all the fielding angles from inside the circle much better than the others,” Shastri said.

“In fact, tell me which trophy has he not won? Name it. There is no space in his trophy cabinet. I think people should learn a thing or two about cricket before they start talking about Dhoni. You don’t get a guy overnight,” he clarified.

“Nobody is good enough to criticise MS Dhoni. If you talk about him, do you even know anything about cricket? Dhoni is like Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar. These guys come once in 30-40 years. He is an ornament to the game. He has been the captain of a number one Test team, and has two World Cups to his name.

While everyone though that India’s top-three was fixed with Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan at the top and Kohli coming in at No.3, Shastri decided to bowl a googly.

“The good thing about this Indian top-three is we can separate them, if conditions and situations demand. Someone like Virat Kohli can go to number four, and we can put a good number three to bring more balance to the batting line-up. That’s flexibility for you, and for big tournaments like the World Cup, you have to be flexible to see what’s the best balance for the side. So we will decide that ,” he said.