MS Dhoni oversees the net sessions in absence of Ravi Shastri

After the long tour of England, the Indian team is all set to compete in the Asia Cup which started in a superlative manner yesterday (15 September 2018) with Bangladesh managing to upstage Sri Lankan comprehensively. As the tournament moves forward the Men in Green are playing Hong Kong today at the Dubai International Stadium. The Indian team will next play Hongkong and then Pakistan starting their campaign on 18 September.

In the absence of the regular skipper Virat Kohli, the baton has been handed over to vice-captain Rohit Sharma to take charge in the whole tournament. Interestingly, the Indian squad for the Asia Cup boarded the flight in two parts with the likes of Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, and other limited-overs specialists got there early. The other half of the team along with the support staff who were a part of Test set up joined the team on Sunday.

MS Dhoni – the man in charge

However, the players had started off with their practice session before their arrival. The head coach of the Indian team, Ravi Shastri travelled was among those who landed in the UAE today. Thus, MS Dhoni who is now the most experienced player in the side took charge to overlook the practice session.

He was seen sharing his views with the players and standing in place of Shastri. In one of many pictures clicked by the photographers, he was seen giving India A leg-spinner Mayank Markande a few tips. Markande along with a few other bowlers hve been called just to help the team in nets.

Further, this is not the first time we have seen Mahendra Singh Dhoni overviewing the net sessions and sharing his thoughts. Last year, after the conclusion of the ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales, the Indian team toured West Indies without a head coach. Even then it was seen that Dhoni along with Yuvraj Singh took up the responsibility.

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