Former India opener Gautam Gambhir on Saturday came down hard on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy during the 2012 CB series in Australia.

Gambhir, in an explosive interview with India Today, spoke about how he was unceremoniously omitted from the playing XI before the start of the tri-series between Australia, India and Sri Lanka but was then brought back into the final XI in their penultimate game of the series.

"In the 2012 Tri-series in Australia, Dhoni declared that he can't play all three (Gambhir, Sachin and Sehwag) as he was looking at the 2015 World Cup.

"It was a massive shock, I think it would have been a massive shock for any cricketer. I have not heard anyone being told in 2012 that they would never be a part of the 2015 World Cup. I always had the impression that if you keep scoring runs, age is a just a number.

"If you have the skills to score the runs and you are not a liability on the field, you can go on to play as long as you want. This was always told to us and even in Australia we got to know that all the three can't play together, and we eventually got to play together," Gambhir told India Today.