MS Dhoni will return to competitive cricket after a break of more than a year.
MS Dhoni, despite being a wicket-keeper throughout his career, never goes through his keeping drills ahead of a cricket match irrespective of the level of the game. The fact that he is doing it now is really new and surprising according to Irfan Pathan.
The former Indian all-rounder has played alongside Dhoni and he knows that the former India captain usually plays football or bowls in the nets as a warm-up to a cricket game. Thus, he expressed his surprise talking on a show on Star Sports.
Pathan said, "We have seen a new visual where we have seen MS Dhoni keeping the wickets. This never happens, this is something new for me because I have played cricket for so many years with him, whether it is for the Indian team or in the league with CSK, I have never seen him keeping wickets."
"So this is because he has not played cricket for a long time. I guess there was some leg-spinner bowling, so he may be trying to check the new bowlers but it is good to see that he is doing keeping during practice," he added.
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A number of fans had also turned to cheer for the wicket-keeper batsman as he got down from the bus for practice in the UAE. However, Pathan was not surprised with that visual as he knows how big a relief it is for CSK fans because of the COVID-19 cases that had emerged in their camp.
He said, "Absolutely, this had to happen. And these are good visuals because there has been some disruption in Chennai Super Kings after the withdrawal of two players with Suresh Raina coming back and Harbhajan Singh not playing."
"So, it is good news that practice has started and it is not a surprise that fans have reached there to see MS Dhoni. This is happening for so many years and it is not a shock that it is happening now also. COVID is there but still, fans have reached there to watch MS Dhoni," he concluded.
(With inputs from India Today)