March 25, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

NEW DELHI, March 24: Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s recent veiled remarks that seniors should know when their time is up drew flak from former international captains Inzamam-ul Haq and Marvan Atapattu who said a captain should be more respectful towards senior players who have achieved so much for the country.

Dhoni had lashed out at critics and justified his insistence on youth at the cost of veterans Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, saying he was clear about the players he wanted for the ODI series against Australia and it was very important to “send the message across.”

”Dhoni being the captain should refrain from making such statements. Age should not be the criteria for selection in the national side,” former Pakistan skipper Inzamam said on Monday.

Inzamam threw his weight behind Sourav Ganguly, who was axed from the series against Australia despite being a consistent performer for the country in ODIs, saying performance alone should be the yardstick for selection in the national side and not age. “If a 22-year-old cricketer has no performance to back him up then he should not be selected in the team, whereas if a 40-year-old has performance behind him then he should be a part of the team irrespective of his age,” said Inzamam.

While former Sri Lanka captain Atapattu said dropping players of the stature of Ganguly and Dravid all of a sudden was not the right approach and instead the selectors should have been proactive in notifying the seniors about their future plans.

”I always believed that there should be a nice blend of youth and experience in any team. But dropping cricketers like Sourav and Rahul all of a sudden is not right,” Atapattu said.

”If I had been in their place I would have been disappointed. You should treat your senior players with lot of respect and dignity,” he added.—Agencies