Dropped from BCCI’s central contracts list, former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni began practising with the Jharkhand Ranji Trophy squad on Thursday amid fresh speculation on his future.
The 38-year-old showed up at his home team’s net practice in Ranchi, indicating that he is gearing himself for the upcoming Indian Premier League. This was on a day when BCCI axed him from the list of centrally contracted players.
“Even we did not know that he was going to come and train with us. It was a pleasant surprise. He batted for a while and did the usual training routine,” a source close to the Jharkhand team management told PTI.
Jharkhand’s next match is against Uttarakhand, starting Sunday in Ranchi.
Dhoni has not played a competitive game since the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand on July 9.
Head coach Ravi Shastri has hinted that the celebrated wicketkeeper-batsman might retired from ODIs soon but will be in contention for a T20 World Cup berth provided he does well for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
The T20 World Cup will be held in Australia in October.