Mahendra Singh Dhoni would readily step aside as India captain if there was a suitable replacement available, the under-fire skipper said Tuesday. “It's not something I want to hold on to or stick on to. If there's a better replacement, it's a very open thing, he can come in,” Dhoni told reporters on the eve of India's first Twenty20 international against Australia. “At the end of the day, you want India to perform. If there is someone who can do a better job, then it's a place that should be given to him. It's not something you have to cling on to,” he said. “It's not a position that belongs to anyone. The responsibility was given to me three-and-half years back and I have been trying to fit into the shoes, trying to get along with the team and perform well wherever we play.” Under Dhoni, India won the Twenty20 (2007) and 50-over World Cups (2011) and became the top-ranked Test nation before the team's spectacular decline started in England last year. The team did not win a single match on that tour, losing the Test series 4-0, and further humiliation awaited them in Australia, where it succumbed to its second successive whitewash abroad. Dhoni missed the last Test in Adelaide, having incurred a one-match ban for the team's slow over rate in Perth, but his leadership was as much criticized as the senior batsmen's failure in the 4-0 series loss in Australia. Dhoni did not endear himself to the fans and former cricketers either by hinting he might quit Tests to focus on 2015 World Cup. “I definitely feel that Dhoni does not enjoy Test cricket,” his former captain Sourav Ganguly recently told Aaj Tak channel. “His performance in Test and one-day cricket are poles apart and by making such a statement, he has also perhaps explained his complete disinterest in the longer format of the game,” Ganguly added. Tharanga to lead Opening batsman Upul Tharanga will lead Sri Lanka in a one-day tour match against a Victorian 2nd XI Wednesday ahead of its limited-over tri-series against Australia and India. Regular captain Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and star paceman Lasith Malinga are all rested for the match. Haddin says he's been dropped, not rested Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said Tuesday he has been dropped, not rested, from the one-day squad to face India and Sri Lanka and conceded it will be tough for him to win back his place. Selectors said they had left Haddin out of the 14-man squad for the first three games of the tri-nation series to give him a rest after the 4-0 Test whitewash of India, but the 34-year-old had a different take. “I think any time you're out of the Australian cricket team I think you're dropped,” he told Sky Sports Radio. “You give another guy an opportunity to take your spot and you've got to look if they do well, you could find it hard to get back in the team. “But that's the way it is and I've just got to deal with that and make sure I'm ready to play.” Haddin's place has been taken by Matthew Wade, who is 10 years younger and says he plans to make the most of it. Haddin has been under pressure all summer over his performances at Test level and Wade has been touted as his likely replacement should selectors decide to make a change.
