MS Dhoni to play under Varun Aaron in the Vijay Hazare Trophy
Indian limited-overs captain MS Dhoni will feature in Indian domestic cricket for the first time since 2007 as he will play for Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Dhoni was named in the 15-member squad that will be captained by fast bowler Varun Aaron.
The Vijay Hazare Trophy is India's premier domestic limited-overs tournament played between states that play the Ranji Trophy. It is also known as the Ranji One Day Trophy. The trophy was established in 2002/03 and is named after former Indian captain Vijay Hazare, who led India to their first ever Test win.
The tournament will start on December 10 and go on until December 28, when the final will be played. Jharkhand are pooled in Group B along with Karnataka, Railways, Kerala, Haryana and Gujarat. Dhoni will be playing his first match on December 10 when Jharkhand play Jammu & Kashmir.
Jharkhand won the Vijay Hazare Trophy once, in the 2010/11 season when they beat Gujarat in the final. Tamil Nadu have won the trophy most times – four. Karnataka are the current champions, and will be looking to make it three in a row this season after a disappointing showing in the Ranji Trophy.
Dhoni's domestic 50-over record is not as impressive as his international record. In 57 matches, he has scored 2003 runs with an average under 40.
This tournament will give a good run to all the national team players who can expect to be called up to the Indian sqaud for the limited-overs tour to Australia that begins on January 12, 2016.
Recently, Mohammad Shami got a call to play for the Bengal squad in the one-day tournament. For Delhi, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma are set to feature under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir.
With big names such as these, the Vijay Hazare Trophy is set to be followed by all Indian cricket fans. With voices from some quarters wanting Dhoni to retire from all formats, it remains to be seen how the Indian captain will fare. The 34-year-old will be looking to silence his critics and go into the Australia tour riding high on confidence.
Jharkhand squad: Varun Aaron (C), Anand Singh, Ankit Dabas, Kumar Deobrat, MS Dhoni, Shiv Gautam, Ishank Jaggi, Jaskaran Singh, Kaushal Singh, Monu Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Shukla, Sonu Singh, Sumit Kumar (Wk), Saurabh Tiwary.