MS Dhoni not to feature in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018

The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic T20 tournament organized by the BCCI. The tournament is named after the famous cricketer Syed Mushtaq Ali who is credited with scoring the first hundred by an Indian in an overseas test match. The tournament was played among the Ranji teams but in 2016 the BCCI restructured the format of the tournament. It is now a Zonal based competition. This will be the ninth edition of the T20 tournament and is set to be played from January 21 to January 27.

International Presence

Whenever the top international stars play in such tournaments, more and more fans start following the tournament. The stadium also attracts a good crowd and the TRP’s increase. However, the negative side of this aspect is that few of the domestic players have to give up their spots to their international counterparts. Amid much speculations, MS Dhoni has confirmed that he would not feature in the T20 tournament.

“Yesterday, Dhoni has officially told us that he would not be available for the tournament,” JSCA secretary Debasish Chakrabarty was quoted as saying to Sportstar. Dhoni’s involvement would have bolstered the Jharkhand side who haven’t won the tournament since its inception. He has been visiting the stadium frequently in the last week which raised speculations over his involvement. But the selectors have now decided to go in with the available pool of players.

CSK retains MSD

The Chennai Super Kings are back in the tournament and have decided to retain the Indian stalwart. “Thala” as he is rightly called in Chennai will be donning the yellow jersey again. He may have participated in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy just to keep himself fit and maintain the touch. But it is too early for that as he is participating in the limited overs series in South Africa.

The 36-year old has got more time to spend with his family after his test retirement. The Indian team is set to begin the South African series with the test matches. This gives an additional rest to Dhoni who would be joining the squad only for the limited-overs leg.