New Delhi: The chairman of the selection committee, MSK Prasad, on Monday reiterated his faith on Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Prasad described the former captain as the world's best wicket-keeper, who never let down the national team during his long career.

Prasad's comments came after he was asked whether Dhoni's current batting form in the IPL was discussed by the selection committee while picking the squad for the Champions Trophy. In the ongoing IPL, Dhoni has so far scored 235 runs in 12 innings for Rising Pune Supergiant.

"How many of us believe that MSD is still the best wicket-keeper in the world.... We believe he is the best wicket-keeper in the world. Most of us are only talking and focusing on his batting form," said Prasad.

The chairman of the selection committee, who himself kept wickets for India, said Dhoni's superb keeping skills had gone unnoticed all these years and people only focussed on his batting.

"Not many people realised that in the last 10/12 years, Dhoni never had a bad day with the national team with the gloves. We always treat him as a batsman but he does phenomenal stuff behind the wickets... Not many people appreciate that. According to me, he is still the best wicketkeeper in world cricket," Prasad said.

Asked what should be Dhoni's position in the batting order, Prasad said: "It is up to what combination the team prefers to play... Let the team management decide these things."

The chairman of the selection committee stressed that the form of players in the ongoing IPL could never be the sole criteria for selection.

"There were many challenges for us to pick a squad for a tournament in England and we discussed several names, who were distinctly unlucky to miss out.

"The team was also selected keeping in mind the calendar after the Champions Trophy and it is the most balanced squad we could pick. It is a mix of senior and juniors," said Prasad.

The IPL, Prasad said, is the most glamorous tournament in the world. "We respect IPL. But when it comes to picking the team for the Champions Trophy, the longer format and conditions are taken into consideration. The experience of players and their long-time performance also matters," he said.

The names of several other cricketers, including a few youngsters were discussed by the selection committee and five of them were kept as reserves.

"There are some players, who missed the selection narrowly. All the players, who have been named as standbyes, would train at the National Cricket Academy," Prasad said.

Among the standbyes, Prasad said, Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant are young and expected to have a long and fruitful career for the national team in the near future.

"Kuldeep would have been a very solid player in the squad. He narrowly missed the selection this time but has a big role to play for India in the near future," he said.

"Rishabh Pant is another very fine player.... We are impressed by him. He might have missed out this time, but he is no doubt a huge prospect.

"We are going to groom him so that he plays for as long time for India," he added.