The 26-year-old Dhoni was recently named the captain of the Twenty20 team currently participating in the World Cup in South Africa and he has been promoted to lead the national team in the ODI series against Australia and Pakistan this year.
The national selection committee, which met in the wake of Rahul Dravid’s sudden resignation from Test and ODI captaincy did not appoint anybody to lead the Test team although there was widespread speculation that Sachin Tendulkar would take over the reins of the Test team. “We did not offer captaincy to anyone, neither did we talk to Tendulkar regarding Test captaincy,” Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar said.
The selectors also brought back paceman Irfan Pathan and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh in the 15-member squad for the first three one-dayers against Australia beginning from September 29. Paceman Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel, both of whom have been quite inconsistent, have been dropped from the squad announced by BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.
“Dhoni is a good captain and has done well in the Twenty20 World Cup. We will see how he performs in these 12 ODIs before choosing the Test captain,” Vengsarkar said.
The Jharkhand player will have three former captains, including his immediate predecessor Dravid, playing under him in the first three ODIs against Australia at Bangalore, Kochi and Hyderabad. The squad, which will have Yuvraj Singh as vice captain, has no place for hard-hitting batsman Virender Sehwag, while Rohit Sharma has also been omitted.
Dispelling any notion that the captaincy was offered to Tendulkar, Vengsarkar said “We discussed four or five players and then came to the conclusion that Dhoni is the best choice, the best man at the moment.”
About Dravid’s decision to quit the high-profile job without any advance communication to the selectors, Vengsarkar said, “We did not expect him to quit. We discussed the pros and cons (of the development) and arrived at the conclusion (of naming Dhoni as captain).”
The chief selector did not agree with the view that Dhoni will be overburdened by the captaincy. “I don’t think he will be overburdened. He’s young and can handle it,” he said.
Vengsarkar said that though Sehwag has not been recalled like Pathan and Harbhajan, he will get a chance later. “We will be rotating the players. Irfan and Harbhajan have done well in Twenty20 Cup. We need an all rounder in the 7 or 8 position and Irfan gives us more options,” he said.
On Munaf’s exclusion, Vengsarkar said, “Munaf stands a chance but he has to prove his fitness.”
The chief selector also dismissed the notion that having three former captains would make it difficult for Dhoni to lead the side. “I don’t think so. The three former captains will give him full support. You are talking about having three captains and (Mohd) Azharuddin had five former captains under him when he led India in the 1990s,” Vengsarkar said.
Shah said there was nothing wrong in Dravid intimating the BCCI president (Sharad Pawar) and not Vengsarkar about his decision to relinquish captaincy.
“Generally, when players retire they inform the president only. Senior players like Rahul know what he’s doing,” he added.

DHONI FACT FILE
Tests: 20 matches, 1,019 runs, average 36.39, highest 148, 1x100, 63 dismissals. ODIs: 84 matches, 2,477 runs, 44.23, highest 183 no, 3x100s, 14x50s, 103 dismissals.
Dhoni was born on July 7, 1981 in Ranchi and was his school goalkeeper before he took to cricket.
Made his India debut after impressive batting at domestic level and smashed a match-winning 123-ball 148 against Pakistan in his second ODI series in 2005.
Dhoni then hit 183 not out off just 145 balls against Sri Lanka in the next home series to record the highest total by a one-day wicketkeeper, forcing his way into the Test team.
Failed to do well with the bat in India's first-round World Cup exit but won praise as a team man to be made ODI vice-captain during the tour of England.
Chosen as captain for the Twenty20 World Cup.