MS Dhoni responds to Vengsarkar after his fitness remarks

India limited-overs captain MS Dhoni replied to Dilip Vengsarkar’s recent comments and said that he is working out in a gym. The response came days after Vengsarkar questioned Dhoni’s fitness and wondered how he managed to keep himself fit despite retiring from Test cricket two years ago. The 34-year-old “Helicopter Master’ is still one of the fittest cricketers around despite age being not by his side.

While speaking to The Telegraph, Dhoni said, “I’ve been training and gymming in Ranchi. Keeping myself in shape (for the ODIs and the T20Is against England).” Dhoni who was recently present in Yuvraj Singh’s marriage ceremony commented upon his fitness and preparations during the gala event. Vengsarkar who is currently the MCA President wondered how Dhoni manages to keep himself fit despite not getting enough match practice.

“Dhoni has retired from Test cricket. He also doesn’t play Ranji games. So how does he keep himself match-fit? One needs to play regularly to stay match-fit. It’s ironical that Dhoni isn’t doing this,” Vengsarkar said in an interview to mid-day a few days earlier. He had also slammed Sachin Tendulkar’s two pitch theory and stated that was practically not possible.

Dhoni last donned the India colours during the ODI series against New Zealand which India narrowly won by a 3-2 margin. Since then Dhoni hasn’t played a single competitive match which might be a drawback for him ahead of the ODI and T20I series against England.

The wicket-keeper batsman from Ranchi retired from Test cricket in 2014 midway through the Test series in Australia which India lost 0-2. It was an unexpected decision from arguably the greatest Indian captain of all time as the whole cricketing fraternity was taken aback by his decision. It was personally a very tricky decision from the point of view of Dhoni but his subtlety and doing unexpected things is what makes him so special.