MS Dhoni not to play for Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts

There were a lot of speculations that former India captain MS Dhoni will be playing for Jharkhand in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy and gain some valuable match practice but Jharkhand coach Rajiv Kumar has denied those reports and confirmed that Dhoni will not turn up for his state in the knockout stages of the tournament.

Dhoni, who is struggling to get going whenever he turns up for India in ODIs and T20Is of late, could have used this opportunity as a platform to regain his lost touch but he decided against it as he feels that it will be unfair on him to join the team that has done so well till the quarters and upset the team balance for the all-important ties. Adding to that, he has to join the Indian ODI team on October 16 in Hyderabad ahead of the five-match ODI series against West Indies, which is a day after Jharkhand's quarter-final clash.

"Dhoni feels that it would not be fair for him to join us at this stage, given that the team has done so well and reached the quarterfinal stage in his absence. He does not want to upset the team balance. He has to report to Hyderabad on October 16 for the One-dayers camp and that’s the reason, he will not be available for the knockout stage fixtures. That’s what we have been told," Rajiv told Sportstarlive ahead of Jharkhand's quarter-final match against Maharashtra that will be held at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Monday (October 15).

A few members of the Indian limited-overs team, which includes the likes of vice-captain Rohit Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal, will turn out for their respective sides in the knockouts of the tournament. It should be noted that the Test specialists played a few matches in the league stage before they joined the Indian Test team for their ongoing series against West Indies.