MS Dhoni to play in Vijay Hazare Trophy this season
MS Dhoni has announced that he will turn out for his home state Jharkhand in the domestic one-day tournament early next year in a bid to tune up for the Champions Trophy in England in June, as India play only a handful of limited-overs Internationals in a season packed with Test cricket.
“To see the number of games available for me – this is a five-match series (against New Zealand), followed by 3 against England and 2 T20Is or 3 (3 T20Is). So that is not a lot of limited-overs cricket,” Dhoni told reporters after the third ODI against the Kiwis.
“I will go and play the Ranji Trophy one-dayers (Vijay Hazare Trophy for Jharkhand). Overall, there is not a lot of cricket and I have to make the most of it. The more deliveries I play the better it is for me,” he added.
Jharkhand is in Group D alongside Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Services, Saurashtra, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir in the tournament that will commence on Feb 25 next year.
Skipper Dhoni scored 80 after promoting himself to No 4 in the batting order to help set up the seven-wicket victory along with Virat Kohli (154 no) in Mohali, as India took a 2-1 lead in the series.