No game time for MSD before England series?

New Delhi, December 4

Limited-overs format captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is likely to play his first international match in two-and-a-half months with apparently no official game time in sight.

India’s first ODI against England is scheduled on January 15 in Pune. It is expected to be Dhoni’s first international match in two-and-a-half months  after having last played against New Zealand at Visakhapatnam on October 29.

While there is a protocol for injured players to play at least one first-class game before being considered for national selection, the same is not applicable for Dhoni, who has retired from Test cricket. Dhoni prepared for the limited-overs tour of Australia in 2015 by playing the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Jharkhand.

However, this edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy will commence on February 25 — nearly four weeks after the end of the ODI series against England. While some of the other ODI specialists are playing the Ranji Trophy for their states, Dhoni is yet to avail that option.

The Jharkhand team has qualified for the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy but Dhoni has not given any indication that he would like to play purely as a batsman, with Ishan Kishan keeping wickets.

“We have no information 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,” chairman of the senior selection committee MSK Prasad said.

Even Jharkhand State Cricket Association secretary Rajesh Verma made it clear that as far as Ranji Trophy is concerned, Dhoni is a ‘mentor’ of the state team. “He will play for Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy,” Verma said. — PTI