FORMER India cricket captain MS Dhoni has opted out of the tour of the West Indies with intense speculation surrounding his future.
It was only recently that Dhoni’s long-time friend Arun Pandey confirmed that the wicketkeeper/batsman has no immediate plans to retire from international cricket reports bdcrictime.com.
India’s captain Virat Kohli on Sunday will be attending a selection committee meeting with five others to finalize the squad which arrives in the region at the end of the month. But Dhoni is reported to have made himself “unavailable” for the Caribbean tour.
Dhoni, who is an Honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Parachute Regiment of the Territorial Army, is likely to be spending quality time for the next two months with his officers.
A top Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official confirmed this development. “Dhoni has made himself unavailable” for the tour of the West Indies as he will be spending two months with his paramilitary regiment,” he said.
With Dhoni pulling out of the tour Rishabh Pant is in line to be the first-choice wicketkeeper in all three formats of the game while Wridhiman Saha will be the back-up for the series.
