Mumbai: In an interview with the Indian Express, the BCCI officials have stated that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is expected to be fully fit by November, was unavailable for the T20I series versus West Indies and South Africa due to the injuries that he picked up during the 2019 World Cup.
The official also mentioned that Dhoni, who already had a back niggle, further aggravated his inury during the mega tournament. Moreover, during the league match against England, MS Dhoni also got a wrist injury.
After the 2019 World Cup semi-final loss against New Zealand, several reports came out stating that MS Dhoni made himself unavailable for selection for the away series against West Indies and home series against South Africa.
During the T20I series against West India, Dhoni’s name was missing from the 15-member squad.
After Dhoni opted out the home T20I series against South Africa and Bangladesh, several reports were doing rounds suggesting that the 38-year-old pulled out of the T20Is to give the time to BCCI train Rishabh Pant and his replacements as well.
While India was playing the T20I series versus the Caribbeans, Dhoni was training with the Paramilitary forces in Kashmir. Dhoni left to train with the Victor forces on July 30 and he stayed in Kashmir till August 15.
Earlier, during the 2018 Indian Premier League, the Chennai Super King’s captain had sustained a back injury, which had been troubling him. Last year, after the IPL match against Kings XI Punjab, the former Indian captain opened up about his during the post-match presentation.
Dhoni stated, “It’s bad. How bad it is, I don’t know.” Earlier, during the 2019 IPL, Dhoni had stated his back was holding up. “The back is holding up, it’s not getting worse, with the World Cup coming up, can’t afford that, because that’s too important.”
