Even as his teammates hit the ground running ahead of their opening Twenty20 match against Australia on Tuesday, former India captain MS Dhoni, who was dropped from India’s T20 squad, turned to football to keep himself fit before the ODI series next year.
The wicketkeeper-batsman, who has been “rested” from India T20 squad in order to prepare the younger Rishabh Pant as India’s future No.1 wicketkeeper, was seen taking part in a charity football match in Mumbai. He was joined by none other than Bollywood biggies Ranbir Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan. They represented the All Stars Football Club and had the words “Playing for Humanity” inscribed on the front of their jerseys.
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It is to be kept in mind that the 37-year-old from Jharkhand started as a goalkeeper before moving to cricket. Many Television stars like Aparshakti Khurana, Vivian Desena, and Shabir Ahluwalia were also part of that match.
Meanwhile, Dhoni was also left out of India’s T20 series against the West Indies, which the hosts won 3-0 quite comfortably.
But controversy arose when the World Cup-winning wicketkeeper was also excluded from the T20 squad against Australia.
With rumours constantly doing the rounds that he was “dropped” in favour of the more dashing wicket-keeping batsman Rishabh Pant – whom the selectors clearly see as Dhoni’s successor in the Indian team.
Chief selector MSK Prasad was then compelled to speak to the media regarding the exclusion of veteran cricketer.
“Pant has been selected as a specialist batsman but will be a backup wicketkeeper, if a need arises,” said Prasad after announcing the squads.
“It is a no-brainer who is our No.1 wicketkeeper. In search of the second wicketkeeper, we have given opportunities to Dinesh Karthik and right now we are giving an opportunity to Rishabh Pant. At an appropriate time, we will take a call as to who is the best among the two.”