MS Dhoni felicitated by teammates before third T20I against England
Ahead of the third and final T20I against England at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which was won by the hosts, the Indian team management decided to felicitate former skipper MS Dhoni for his contribution to Indian cricket.
The 35-year-old was presented with a memento that consisted of his photo as well as an image of all the trophies he won as captain. While it is alright for a player of Dhoni’s stature to be felicitated by his teammates, the fact this would be his last T20I for a long time does raise a question over whether this game could be his last for India in the shortest format of the game.
The cricketer is always known to keep his cards close to his chest, but this time, perhaps not him, but his teammates, who may have given a hint or more about this being Dhoni’s final game for India in the shortest format.
This will be Dhoni’s last T20I for India for a while as the team are set to resume their Test season next week against Bangladesh, followed by the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the Indian Premier League and the Champions Trophy.
Keeping that in mind, this felicitation was made and it remains to be seen now whether this does turn out to be the 35-year-old’s last T20I on Indian soil or not.
Atleast, Dhoni gave his fans much cheer in the game, registering his first T20I fifty and helping India reach a more than competitive score of 202 for 5 in their 20 overs.
On the 4th of January 2017, Dhoni decided to step down as skipper of both the ODI as well as the T20I format, thereby handing over the reigns to Virat Kohli, who was already doing a fabulous job in the longer format of the game.
Dhoni decision brought to an end a very successful reign as skipper where he won every major trophy in limited-overs cricket and also took India to the Number One position in Test cricket.
Even if this is or isn’t Dhoni’s final T20I game on Indian soil, the gesture by the present team is only an indication for the amount of respect they have for their former skipper who has been instrumental in shaping the future of several players from the present outfit.