Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has answered his critics bluntly, saying he has been training and working hard in gym during his break time. In an interview with mid-day.com recently, former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar questioned the World Cup winning captain about his match fitness since he does not play Test cricket anymore and last represented India in ODIs during the New Zealand series at home.
Dhoni is currently mentoring the Jharkand Ranji Team and will feature in competitive cricket on January 15, when India will face England for first ODI in Pune, 75 days since he last played one.
A week back, chief selector MSK Prasad backed Dhoni saying that he (Dhoni) is regularly training with the Jharkhand team.
“We have no information as to whether Dhoni will be playing any Ranji Trophy game or not. In any case, he has already retired from the longer format. The information we have is that he is doing his regular training with the Jharkhand team.”
During Yuvraj Singh’s reception event in ITC Maurya on Wednesday, Dhoni was joined alongside many current and former cricketers. During the function, the captain cool was spotted saying, “I’ve been training and gymming in Ranchi. Keeping myself in shape (for the ODIs and the T20Is against England).”
India and England will square off in three ODIs and three T20Is, starting January 15 next year.