The India coach, Gary Kirsten recently praised Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and said that the man is ready to become the captain of the Indian cricket team from all forms.

However, he also confirmed that since Anil Kumble is doing a terrific job as a captain and leading the Test side, there was no immediate need to post Dhoni as the Captain presently. 

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has again gained top place in the latest ICC ODI batsmen ranking.

He defeated South African player, Greame Smith in this race. He is ranked first following his consistent performance in the various matches. He has now 803 rating points. African player, Greame Smith lagged behind him by 27 points.

Greame Smith achieved second place in ICC ODI batsmen ranking. Dhoni was also number 1 player in a brief period in 2006.

Australian player, Ricky Ponting got third place in the ICC ranking followed by Michael Hussey and England skipper Kevin Pietersen. Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar gained 9th place while Yuvraj Singh gained 18th place.

Due to the ongoing one-day series in Sri Lanka, the Indian ODI and Twenty-Twenty captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will miss the exalted Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award ceremony in the capital on Friday.

This once again proves that Mahi gives more importance towards his game as compared to that of award ceremonies.

Speaking with media people Ratnakar Shetty, chief administrative officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India told that since Mahi is in Sri Lanka therefore Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award will be presented to Mahi’s father by the Honourable President of India.

Friday will see India fighting with Sri Lanka at the P Saravamuttu Oval as it accepted the Sri Lanka Invitation XI in a One-day affair. This match will be the only warm up game before Monday, when the five-match ODI series begins. Dhoni and CO. will be looking forward to perform better this time as there performance during the Tests was not good due the middle-order. An entirely different look to the Indian team has been given by Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and S Badrinath, who are all ready to give the Sri Lankan spinners, Muralitharan and Mendis, a tough competition.

An opportunity to work on the batting combination comes with the warm-up game for Dhoni who would also try and gibe his best during the outgoing in the middle.

After losing the test series by 2-1, Indian ODI captain M S Dhoni feels that losing Sachin Tendulkar could for the team.

On his arrival at Colombo airport Dhoni said, “Losing Sachin Tendulkar at this point of time can be crucial. It is very difficult to fill the space when it comes to Sachin. He not only contributes with the bat and the ball his impact in the dressing room is great.”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a break from three-Test series in Sri Lanka due to fatigue from constant cricket. He will return as a captain of the Indian cricket team for the five-match series against Sri Lanka and the forthcoming 2008 ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

Virat Kohli, the Under-19 World Cup winning captain was given a place in both the squads. Ishant Sharma was replaced by Munaf Patel in team for one-dayers in Srilanka. However Ishant Sharma will play in the forthcoming 2008 ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan. Yuvraj Singh will be vice captain of both the squads.