96:MS Dhoni joins Ravi Shastri and Co. during Team India's training session; pictures go viral
After guiding Chennai Super Kings to their 4th IPL title, former Indian captain MS Dhoni is staying back in UAE for national duties. As per the announcement made earlier by BCCI, the 40-year-old has joined Men in Blue as mentor for 2021 T20 World Cup. During the pre-tournament press-conference, Virat Kohli talked about MSD in his new role, which got the fans quite excited.
"He (Dhoni) has always been a mentor for all of us, when we were starting our careers at that time he played and now he has the same opportunity to continue the same again. Especially for the younger guys who are in early stages of their career, just experience that he has gained over the years and having conversations with him about the game," Kohli had said.
MSD makes his debut as India's mentor on Sunday
As it turns out, MSD made his first appearance in Team India's training session for the first time since 2019 World Cup. BCCI posted images of Dhoni on Sunday, with the 40-year-old captured with India's coaching staff - Ravi Shastri (head coach), Vikram Rathour (batting coach), Bharat Arun (bowling coach) and R Sridhar (fielding coach).
"Extending a very warm welcome to the KING @msdhoni is back with #TeamIndia and in a new role," BCCI stated in the caption. Much to everyone's excitement, MSD could be seen sharing some batting tips, presumably reflecting on his experience of playing in these conditions recently in IPL 2021.
Check out the images:
Kohli and Co. all set for the mega event
BCCI also shared an image of India’s team huddle where all the players and coaching staff seemed to be present. There is no doubt that the Men in Blue are raring to go on the field in their pursuit of clinching their first ever ICC trophy since 2013.
Although India will open their campaign on October 24 in the much-awaited game against Pakistan, they will play two warm-up games against England and Australia on October 18 and October 20 respectively, with both contests slated to be played at ICC Cricket Academy in Dubai.