MS Dhoni makes himself unavailable for Bangladesh T20Is

There have been all sorts of speculations surrounding MS Dhoni, more so after the conclusion of the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. Talks regarding when the veteran keeper will hang his boots from international cricket is doing the rounds. After the mega event, the 38-year-old took a break from playing cricket in order to serve the Indian Army, which he did for 15 days in Kashmir.

The Jharkhand-born missed the ODIs and T20Is in the West Indies last month and wasn’t picked for the ongoing three-match T20I series versus South Africa as well. There is still no concrete news about when the seasoned campaigner will make his way on the cricket field. In a recent development, it has been learned that Dhoni has decided to extend his vacation from cricket.

The wait prolongs…

It means that he is set to miss more action. As per reports in Mumbai Mirror, the break is set to extend until November, which means that he won’t be a part of the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh at home. The series gets underway on Sunday, November 3 with the opening match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Rajkot and Nagpur are the other venues for the series.

The break also means that he won’t be a part of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which is scheduled to start in a couple of days. The earliest now one might see Dhoni back is in the Men in Blue’s ODI and T20I series versus the Caribbean team, starting December 6. If not, then one has to wait for the series versus Zimbabwe and Australia from January 5 to 19 for Dhoni to make his comeback.

After the World Cup, it was communicated that Dhoni wouldn’t be India’s first choice keeper going forward. Rather Rishabh Pant would be given the first preference with Dhoni being the part of the transition process. Though the former hasn’t found his feet, he is expected to get more chances.

India will play the T20 World Cup next year in Australia and it’s still not known whether Dhoni is in the scheme of things for the tournament or not. Of late reports emerged that he would be holding a press conference to announcement his retirement, but the news turned out to be baseless.

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