New Delhi: Indian fans would not be seeing M. S. Dhoni for the upcoming West Indies tour says reports. Dhoni will be joining with his paramilitary regiment and will be serving his regiment for the coming couple of months.
According to reports, a BCCI source said, “Dhoni met a top BCCI official in person and explained why he cannot go on the tour of West Indies. Dhoni is an honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the parachute regiment of the territorial army. He had made a commitment to reserve the regiment for a couple of months even before the World Cup.”
However, the sources clarified that this was not a retirement but only a break for a few months to do his duties as member of the Territorial Army. Dhoni will be away from cricket atleast two months. The source said that he has not yet taken any decision concerning his future.
India’s tour of West Indies will begin on 8 August and will continue till the 30th. It will start off with three T20 matches continued with three ODIs and two Test Matches.
With India bowing out of the World Cup in the Semi finals, speculation were rife about the possible retirement of Dhoni. His friend and business partner, Arun Pandey, also refuted the speculations about retirement.
The former captain has played a total of 350 ODIs with 10,773 runs in his kitty, 90 Tests and 98 T20 Internationals in his colourful career.
Dhoni had made headlines at the World Cup when he wore the badge of his regiment on his gloves to show respect to his brothers in arms in the military. The ICC had taken notice of it and asked him to change it. India strongly supported the Cricketer and lauded his sense of patriotism and commitment to his regiment.