Former India captain MS Dhoni will decide his future after next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), a source close to the star cricketer informed on Tuesday. Dhoni has not taken part in a single game ever since India’s semifinal exit from the ICC World Cup in England in July. He has missed the tour of the West Indies and the home series against South Africa and Bangladesh as well.
“If at all MS will take a call on his future, it will only be after the IPL. You can’t stop speculation as he is such a big player. He is in the best shape possible fitness-wise and has been training hard for the last one month,” the source told PTI. “However the number of competitive games he will play before the IPL will be decided in due course.”
The 38-year-old, who leads Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, will also miss the limited-overs home series against the West Indies starting December 6 which comprised of both ODI and T20I series. Earlier MSK Prasad has already made it clear that they have “moved on” and they are focusing on Rishabh Pant keeping in mind next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
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Pant, however, failed to capitalise the chances whatever he has got so far and has faced criticism for sloppy work behind the stumps also. MS Dhoni, on the other hand, has not said a single word on his future course of action. However, he was seen training with Jharkhand’s under-23 team in Ranchi a few days ago.
“You know champions don’t finish quickly,” Sourav Ganguly had said when he took over as the Board President last month.
Dhoni is one of the key players of India. Under his leadership, India won two world cup titles — the 2007 World T20 in South Africa and the 2011 ODI World Cup at home. He has played 90 Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20 Internationals for India, scoring over 17,000 runs. He is also considered as one of the best wicketkeepers in international cricket with more than 500 dismissals in the limited-overs format. He has nearly 300 Test dismissals in his name as well.
