Dhoni may play for India A-England warm-up in Mumbai

England is scheduled to play a warm-up matches against the India A team on January 10 and 12 at the CCI ground in Mumbai.

M.S. Dhoni has not been playing since the home series against New Zealand in October.

India’s limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will hopefully get a chance to play a couple of warm-up matches before the England ODI series starts in Pune on January 15 next year.

Before the start of the limited-overs series, England is scheduled to play a warm-up matches (50 overs) against the India A team on January 10 and 12 at the CCI ground in Mumbai.

Dhoni, who has not been playing since the home series against New Zealand in October, would have gone into the ODI series without proper game time for 77 days. The skipper, however, has been training regularly with the Jharkhand team which has qualified for the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy.

However, JSCA secretary Rajesh Verma had made it clear that Dhoni was only a ‘mentor’ to the team and will not be donning whites since he has already retired from Test cricket.

It will be interesting to see whether the selectors also pick young Rishabh Pant as a back-up or a pure wicketkeeper knowing his big hitting skills in domestic cricket. It will not be a bad idea if both Dhoni and his heir apparent play in the same game which could be a treat for the handful who will be attending the match.