“MS Dhoni never looked rusty during CSK training camp,” says L Balaji

Balaji backed Dhoni's inclusion in Team India in the T20 World Cup 2020.

It seems that the wait for MS Dhoni’s international comeback has gotten longer with the indefinite postponement of the IPL 2020 due to the rising cases in the country of the Coronavirus pandemic.

A successful outing in the IPL 2020 for Chennai Super Kings would have been the way back into the Indian team for the former captain, ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November, but the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works. Dhoni hasn’t played any competitive cricket since the end of the 50-over World Cup in July last year and his return to on-field action has now been delayed even further.

Before things came to a halt, the Chennai franchise had a training camp to get their players into competitive mode and MS Dhoni, along with Suresh Raina, M Vijay and many more were seen getting back into the groove in nets and even some practice matches amongst themselves.

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CSK’s bowling coach L Balaji opined on the fitness and preparedness of MS Dhoni and said, “We shouldn’t be talking about Dhoni’s six-month break. It is no big deal. If you see Tiger Woods or Roger Federer, they miss major tournaments and then come back. The break doesn’t mean that they go off the boil. The skill level doesn’t change. It is the same with Dhoni. When it comes to proven performers, you need not think about their skill level.”

He mentioned that Dhoni didn’t look rusty despite not playing proper cricket for over 6 months.

“From what I saw during the CSK training, it never looked like Dhoni was away from the game for any length of time. He didn’t look rusty even on the first day of training. That is his greatness,” Balaji observed during a chat on Wednesday.

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Balaji also backed Dhoni’s inclusion in Indian team for the upcoming T20 World Cup, despite the claim put up by KL Rahul, after impressive outings against Australia and New Zealand recently.

“It is entirely up to selectors but if you ask me, I would always go with MS for any big tournament. Beyond his finishing skills, there are a lot of things he brings to the table. It is about having multiple inputs in a team game. When it comes to winning big tournaments, we can’t have makeshift players as it leads to uncertainty. It is about having the best players for every slot,” the 38-year-old said.

(Times of India inputs)