India vs Australia: MS Dhoni smacked on forearm ahead of Hyderabad ODI

India recently lost the two-match T20I series against Australia and are now scheduled to play the five-match ODI series. The opening game is set to be played tomorrow at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad and it’s the last set of limited-overs matches India would play before the World Cup in England and Wales that starts on Thursday, May 30.

In the meantime, MS Dhoni, the senior-most player in the Indian team, has sustained an injury during the net session ahead of the series opener. The 37-year-old was hit on the right forearm from the team’s support staff manager Raghavendra as he was having a long batting session. A delivery kicked up and smacked the veteran on the arm as per reports in India Today.

Massive development for India

The Jharkhand-born cricketer was in quite a significant amount of pain and he chose not to bat thereafter as a precautionary measure. The gravity of the injury isn’t known yet and a final call is expected to be taken this evening. In case, Dhoni gets ruled out, then in that scenario, the 21-year-old Rishabh Pant is expected to don the wicketkeeping gloves.

Dhoni is at the fag end of his career and he would want to get game time ahead of the mega event, which will be his fourth in his illustrious journey. He didn’t have a great time last year and has awfully out of touch. Subsequently, he was a recipient of severe criticism and was even booed at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground in London during the ODI series against England.

However, he came back to form in the ODI series against Australia where he bagged the Player of the Series Award for scoring three consecutive half-centuries, all of which came in run-chases. The knocks showed that Dhoni isn’t out of gas by any stretch of the imagination and will have to play a major role if the Men in Blue are to lift the World Cup for the third time.

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