MS Dhoni takes over Jharkhand charge ahead of Vijay Hazare Trophy

MS Dhoni might have stepped down from captaining the Indian limited-overs and will not captain his IPL team for the first time and that allows him to do something else for the very first time as well. He will be captaining his state side Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2016-17; he featured in the tournament last season but didn’t lead the team. This time he would also want to win the tournament and that was pretty clear from the intent he showed in the practice session with the team.

He is a team man and decided to travel in a train with the Jharkhand team to Kolkata and that was the first time in a decade that he boarded a train having worked for the Indian railways in the past. Dhoni was leading the young team as they walked out at the Eden Gardens to train for the premier one-day tournament. They will start their campaign at the same ground on February 25.

To kick things off he gave the boys a quick pep talk before taking nets in the scorching sun of Kolkata. What was unusual was to watch him bowl. Dhoni loves to bowl in the training sessions but is a seam up bowler. This time, though, he bowled off-spin and that for a good half an hour.

With a young wicketkeeper in the team in Ishan Kishan, the 35-year-old has the option of giving off the gloves and focus on his batting but he doesn’t like to drop any of his responsibilities and team manager PN Singh confirmed that the skipper will keep the gloves. “It’s his way of practice. He likes to roll his arm so he chose to bowl. He will keep wickets, though we have a second wicketkeeper in Ishan Kishan,” the manager said.

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He shared a piece of advice with the young players in the team giving them tips on their technique and approach. With the bat he played against both pacers and spinners preparing himself for the upcoming challenge.

Like his namesake, Jharkhand left-hander Virat Singh, who played a key role for his Zonal team East’s success in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament was excited at having the most successful captain lead them.

“He is a legend in Indian cricket for past decade. It really feels great to play under him in this meet. He has so many things to offer. His leadership quality and the way he keeps cool and composed in tense situations is something that inspire us,” Virat said.

“I respect him a lot, so I keep a distance from him. But it’s not that I’m scared of him. He is very approachable and whenever I am in doubt I seek his advice. I still haven’t got the time to interact with him on a one-on-one basis, but will do soon,” he added.