MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina overpriced; not in Indian team reckoning: Bishan Singh Bedi

MS Dhoni was picked by the yet to be named Pune-based franchise, while Raina was Rajkot's first choice in the IPL draft.

New Delhi: Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi claimed that two of the most famous cricketers - Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina are overpriced and they don't shouldn't be considered for the national team.

"Two people have gone for Rs 12.5 crore - Dhoni and Raina. Both of them are not in the reckoning for the Indian team," Bedi said the launch of scholar Ronojoy Sen's book, 'Nation at Play,' on Thursday.

In the recent players draft for the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), the Indian limited overs skipper and his long time lieutenant at the now suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) became the pick of the lot.

MS Dhoni was picked by the yet to be named Pune-based franchise, while Raina was Rajkot's first choice in the draft.

The 69-year-old then added, "One has retired and the other is struggling to find a place in the team. How would you want to believe that this is the right thing."

MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket during India's tour of Australia, just before the 2015 Cricket World Cup Down Under.

Raina, although a mainstay in both the limited overs formats, is in and out of the Test team. He was not considered for the Indian team which won the recently concluded Freedom Series against South Africa.

Bedi, a knwon proponent of Test cricket's supremacy over the One Day Internationals and Twenty20 versions, lamented the diminishing popularity of five-day matches, and said "No one wants to play (Tests)".