14 years ago, in the year 2002, then the ticket collector in the Indian railways, M.S. Dhoni walked into the Karnail Singh stadium to give trials for the Railways Ranji Trophy team. He wasn’t selected in the team, a snubbed Dhoni complaint to his coach that he faced discrimination as he was asked to bat for only one over and kept wickets for just 3 balls.
That day and today, Dhoni walks at the Karnail Singh Stadium. A bunch of journalists who are sitting ideal watching the practise session of Jharkhand and Maharashtra players got pumped up with Dhoni’s presence. It looked like players were already informed of him being there but his presence came as an energy booster for all the journalists there who earlier were looking here and there just wanting the clock to move ahead fast.
M.S. Dhoni, the unofficial mentor of Jharkhand team spent his time with his teammates sharing his experiences with them. An official pre-season talk also awaited players at the other end. He also participated in a net session with the Jharkhand players before talking to the journalists present there.
“I won’t be playing this Ranji Trophy game but will be around with the boys. I don’t want to take the place of a youngster who will benefit by playing here,” Dhoni said on being asked about whether he will pay Ranji Trophy or not during his spare time.
The limited overs captain has already retired from longest format of the game in 2014 and has plenty of spare time now. He participated in Vijay Hazare Trophy last year but now playing Ranji Trophy is of no use as he is not a member of multi-day cricket squad.
It is good to see Dhoni spending time with his state boys as the presence of a star like Dhoni in the squad is an automatic booster for the players. They are encouraged to perform well by the just presence of players like Dhoni.
This is not the first time when Dhoni has landed in Jharkhand camp before the start of a tournament as earlier we saw Dhoni opting to mentor Jharkhand in the Buchi Babu Trophy played in August.
Coach of Jharkhand Rajiv Kumar was pretty delighted with Dhoni giving lessons to the youngest as he said “He spoke about how it is important to build partnerships while batting and also about bowling as a unit. He also gave the boys confidence by talking about how the standard of cricket in the state had improved over the years. His messages are simple but when it comes from someone of his stature, it means a lot. By spending time with the players, Dhoni has boosted the morale of the side,”
Jharkhand will play their first match against Maharashtra from October 6 at Karnail Singh Stadium. Dhoni might be attending the game as a mentor but as said earlier, will not be part of Ranji Trophy.