Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018: 'Mentor' MS Dhoni Cheers for Jharkhand From Dressing Room

MS Dhoni, the mentor of the Jharkhand cricket team, landed at JSCA cricket stadium on January 10 to attend the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy contest between Jharkhand and Tripura.

He also talked with Assam Coach, Lalchand Rajput as well (Assam were scheduled to play the second game of the day at the same venue). The latter was the team manager of Indian cricket team when the side won the T20 World Cup under MS Dhoni in 2007.

Dhoni was officially appointed as the mentor of Jharkhand in August 2016 before the start of the Buchi Babu Trophy, a tournament organised by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. He also travelled with the Jharkhand team to the state for the tournament.

Later, he was also present with the side in Nagpur for the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Gujarat in Nagpur in 2016/17 season.

Interestingly, there he met MSK Prasad, Chairman of Indian selectors, and resigned from the post of captain of limited-overs format soon. Dhoni, after the Ranji Trophy, turned up for the Vijay Hazare Trophy and even led the team, despite relinquishing captaincy at the national level.

He led Jharkhand to the semi-final of the tournament before they lost the knockout game to Manoj Tiwary-led Bengal at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi.

Since most of the ODI players are playing the domestic T20 league, Dhoni was also expected to turn up for his stateside again, but he declined and instead, opted to watch the game as a mentor. It seems to be a great move by Dhoni, as his presence could have really seen young players, who were not getting chance in playing XI, and with IPL auction around the corner, it’s an opportunity for youngsters to do well and attract IPL franchises on the auction day to be held on January 27 and 28 in Bangalore.

The final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018 will also be played on January 27, the first day of IPL auction, where capped players are expected to go under the hammer.

Follow Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here –