Tag: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni starts practicing with Jharkhand Ranji squad after omission from BCCI contract list.

Source – indiatoday.in

Dropped from BCCI’s central contracts list, former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni began practising with the Jharkhand Ranji Trophy squad on Thursday amid fresh speculation on his future.

The 38-year-old showed up at his home team’s net practice in Ranchi, indicating that he is gearing himself for the upcoming Indian Premier League. This was on a day when BCCI axed him from the list of centrally contracted players.

“Even we did not know that he was going to come and train with us. It was a pleasant surprise. He batted for a while and did the usual training routine, ” a source close to the Jharkhand team management told PTI.

“We are expecting him to train with the team regularly from now on. His presence can only help the players,” the source added.

In fact, Dhoni has bought a brand new bowling machine for his training. While the Jharkhand team will have their red-ball routines, Dhoni will primarily practice against the white ball.

Jharkhand’s next match is against Uttarakhand, starting Sunday in Ranchi. The team has returned home after an eight-wicket loss against Maharashtra in Nagothane. Out of five games, Jharkhand have won two, lost two and drawn one.

He has not played a competitive game since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand on July 9 though he was seen training for the first time since that defeat in November.

India head coach Ravi Shastri has hinted that the celebrated wicketkeeper-batsman might retire from ODIs soon but will be in contention for a T20 World Cup berth provided he does well for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.

The T20 World Cup will be held in Australia in October-November.

Outgoing chief selector MSK Prasad has already made his stance clear, saying that the World Cup-winning captain can only be selected again on the basis of performances.

While Dhoni has not revealed anything about his future, he is certain to captain Chennai Super Kings in the 2020 IPL.

Since the World Cup, he has missed the tour of the West Indies and the home series against South Africa, Bangladesh, the West Indies and the ongoing one against Australia.

India vs South Africa: Fewer To See The Last Test Match In Ranchi Ground.

Source – sportzwiki.com

The interest to watch Test matches has gone down after the introduction of the shorter format of cricket. The grounds are seen empty during the longer format cricket. Same is the view of the Ranchi ground where India will fight for the third and last Test match against South Africa from Saturday (19th October).

Sanjay Sahay, the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) secretary, said that less than 1500 tickets are sold in swank stadium which has the capacity of 39,000 people. Ranchi will have their second Test match in the Indian cricket history but the natives are not interested to see the match.

“If there is any demand, it is for daily tickets in the hospitality area priced at ~2000,” said Sahay. The daily tickets prices range from ~200 to ~2000 and the cheapest season ticket costs ~1000, he said.

Sahay said that 5000 tickets are distributed among the para-military forces, the army, local police and National Cadet Corps. Ranchi is the home ground of MS Dhoni but the player is not playing the series so it can be the reason for less no. of people to watch the Test match. Sahay said that if Dhoni would play then also maximum 20,000 tickets would have been sold.

This Test will help to understand the condition of Ranchi ground

Sahay also opined that this Test match will help to check the conditions of the light, pitch and fire arrangement of the ground.

“The advantage of staging this match is that we could check whether everything, from the pitch, the lights, the fire arrangements are working. It is because of this Test we have also got the (50-over knockout) Deodhar Trophy (October 31-November 4),” said Sahay.

Sourav Ganguly who will take the new role of BCCI president has opined that he will look forward to introducing day-night Test match. Sahay said that the ground team will have to make the arrangement according to that format.

“We will have to do something to keep this format relevant,” said Khan.

MS Dhoni determined in setting up a cricket academy in Ranchi.

Source – crictracker.com

While the Indian cricket team keeps scaling new heights each time they take the field in all the formats of the game, veteran MS Dhoni’s speculation on making a comeback is still dominating the news. It remains under a cloud of uncertainty whether the 38-year old will retake the field or the semi-final game against the Kiwis in the World Cup 2019 was his swansong.

However, Dhoni has remained in touch with the sport outside the field as well and is reportedly determined to open an academy in his hometown of Ranchi. The wicketkeeper-batsman is set to fulfill his desire of opening a center of learning in Ranchi where aspiring cricketers can harness their skills to make it big.

As reported by Times Now, Arka sports, an organization of Dhoni’s long-time friend Mihir Diwakar, has been searching for a piece of land and considering all goes as planned, the academy could be fully set up in two years. Besides that, the reports also say that they also have the option of tying up the academy with a local school.

The source was quoted as saying “Aarka Sports, a company of Dhoni’s childhood friend and manager Mihir Diwakar, has been looking for a piece of land to open an academy and if all goes as per plan, we shall see an academy in the city in the next couple of years,”. The Ranchi-born batsman has also established academies in Indore, Delhi, Patna, Bokaro, Nagpur, Varanasi. An academy is also planned to be built in Siliguri.

Ravi Shastri firm on letting MS Dhoni decide on his future

Speaking of Dhoni’s immediate future, coach Ravi Shastri was crystal clear in his words, conceding that the former captain has earned the right to retire from the game as desired. He also criticized the people calling for his retirement and hailed him for what he has achieved for the nation.

Shastri said, “Half the guys commenting on Dhoni can’t even tie their shoelaces. Look at what he’s achieved for the country. Why are people in a hurry to see him off? Maybe, they don’t find enough talking points,” Shastri said. “Let me say this: M.S. Dhoni has earned the right to retire when he wants to. And let this debate end once and for all”.

Rishabh Pant chills with MS Dhoni at his home in Ranchi.

Source – indiatoday.in

Time and again young Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has expressed his admiration for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and has admitted that it will be tough for him to fill in the big shoes’ of former India captain, who is in the twilight of his career.

Rishabh Pant on Friday took to Instagram to post a picture with MS Dhoni and captioned it: Good Vibes Only. In the picture, Pant can be seen chilling out with India legend at the latter’s residence in Ranchi.

MS Dhoni was spotted in the Indian dressing room after the team’s innings and 202-run win over South Africa at the JSCA International Cricket Stadium in Ranchi in the last Test.

Dhoni was not picked for the three-match series against Bangladesh and it is yet not clear whether the 39-year-old wicketkeeper made himself available for selection or not. Prasad though, stated that they are looking for younger options in the shortest format with Pant being the man in focus for them.

Dhoni has not played any form of cricket since India’s exit from the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in England in July. He took a break from the sport to train with his regiment in the Territorial Indian Army after which he made himself unavailable for the limited-overs series against South Africa at home.

Rishabh Pant, who has been in poor form with the bat this year in limited-overs cricket, was picked as first choice wicket-keeper for the T20I series against Bangladesh. His wicketkeeping skills are improving but there is still a lot of scope of improvement.

In 9 ODIs this year, Pant has managed just 188 runs in 8 innings at an average of 23.50 with 48 being his highest score. In the 10 T20Is that he has played in 2019, Pant has managed 168 runs at 21 with one half-century to his name.

Ranchi Test: Virat Kohli breaks Mohammad Azharuddin record as India bully South Africa.

Source – indiatoday.in

Virat Kohli on Monday went past Mohammad Azharuddin as the Indian captain who has enforced the follow-on most times in Test cricket after the hosts asked the South Africans to bat again on Day 3 of the Ranchi Test.

Kohli enforced the follow-on for the 8th time as captain of India, Azharuddin had done it 7 times while MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly enforced it 5 and 4 times, respectively.

India, who had declared on 497 for 9 on Sunday, took a first-innings lead of 335 after bowling South Africa out for 162 by the second session on day 3. This is the second biggest first innings lead for India against South Africa after the 347-run lead they took in the Kolkata Test in 2009-10.

Umesh Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he finished with 3 for 40 while Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and debutant Shahbaz Nadeem bagged a couple of wickets each.

Umesh’s performance saw him become only the second fast bowler to pick 3-plus wickets in five successive innings on home soil after West Indies legend Courtney Walsh.

The struggle for the Proteas continued on Monday with captain Faf du Plessis getting out in the first over of the day, thanks to an unplayable delivery from Umesh.

The wickets kept on tumbling from there on as the visitors lost 4 in the first session to reach lunch at 129 for 6.

Zubayr Hamza (62), Temba Bavuma (32) and George Linde (37) offered some resistance but it was still not enough as the Indian bowlers hunted in packs and kept putting pressure on the batsmen in overcast conditions.

Earlier on Sunday, India had declared their innings on 497/9 and had picked the wickets of both the South African openers before play was stopped because of bad light.