MS Dhoni Still Has A Lot Of Cricket Left In Him: Suresh Raina
Published - 14 Apr 2020, 10:37 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:05 AM
Former Indian captain MS Dhoni has been on a sabbatical from cricket since the 2019 World Cup. Dhoni last featured in a competitive game in India’s heartbreaking defeat to New Zealand in the 2019 quadrennial event semi-final where he was unfortunately run-out by Martin Guptill.
Post the 2019 World Cup, Dhoni went on a sabbatical, making himself unavailable for national selection. And since then, contention had galore around his International future.
Dhoni was supposed to make his comeback to competitive cricket with the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League and was even sweating it out in the pre-season camp at the Chepauk.
In recent years, Dhoni’s batting has been on a decline but Suresh Raina, someone who has played a lot of cricket with Dhoni both for India as well as CSK, feels that the former Indian captain still has a lot of cricket left in him.
Also Read: Don’t push MS Dhoni into retirement: Nasser Hussain
Suresh Raina on MS Dhoni’s International future
Raina revealed that Dhoni was batting really well in the pre-season camp and his fitness levels can be construed from the fact that he used to sweat it out for three hours in extreme Chennai heat.
“He was batting really well. Cricket is still left in him. He has looked innovative. We played practice games and those sixes are as big as they were. Three hours of batting in the evening, that too, in Chennai heat is not easy and we did that (during the camp). If you ask me, Mahi bhai is batting brilliantly,” Raina said in an Instagram Live session.
“His body is not showing signs of ageing. He was looking different and was trying to do something else, something different, new. So people will get to know when they see him,” said Raina who was part of India’s 2011 World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy under Dhoni’s leadership.
Speaking of Dhoni’s International future, Head Coach Ravi Shastri has time and again asserted that the former Indian captain’s selection for the T20 World Cup will depend on how and his contemporary wicket-keepers perform in the 13th edition of the IPL. But, with the chances of IPL looking bleak, it will be interesting to see what stand the team-management takes if the tournament is canceled.
Also Read: MS Dhoni’s chances of a comeback look bleak: Gautam Gambhir
