NEW DELHI: “Top Army Sources: MS Dhoni’s request to train with the Indian Army has been approved by General Bipin Rawat. He would train with the Parachute Regiment battalion. Some part of the training is also expected to take place in J&K. Army won’t allow Dhoni to be part of any active Op.” That was newswire ANI’s “national new flash” tweeted Sunday night a few hours after the national selectors announced the squad that would do duty on India’s upcoming tour to the West Indies.
As this website has noted earlier, the development is great news for his political future. But in sporting terms, the subtext is that the just concluded ICC World Cup, in all likelihood, also marks the last time the Indian cricketing legend plays in the country’s colours (farewell ODI or T20 game not included in this surmise).
Meanwhile, PTI broke the news that a senior member of the Indian cricket team has come under the scanner for violating BCCI’s ‘family clause’ rules during the World Cup, where the team made a semi-final exit.
To quote directly from the PTI report: “The player in question had specifically requested for his wife to stay with him for more than the permissible period of 15 days but it was shot down by the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which had laid down the rules.
“Now it has come to light that the player’s wife stayed with him for the entire seven-week duration of the tournament without seeking (special) permission from either the captain or the coach for her extended stay.”
Why did the newswire not name said senior member? Obviously because different rules apply when it comes to the superstars. It took “upstart” online news platform Catch News to ignore the Omerta code which appears to apply in this and similar cases and put a name out in the public domain: That of Dhoni.
As Catch News reported: “The player in question may be (emphasis ours) MS Dhoni as it had earlier come to light that the BCCI might punish the wicket-keeper batsman after his wife was seen cheering for team India during a World Cup match. Wives and family members were not allowed to join the players until June 26, but Sakshi Dhoni and daughter Ziva were seen cheering for team India during their match against South Africa.
“Both of them were also seen in the team hotel on July 7 when MS Dhoni was celebrating his birthday. Sakshi Dhoni uploaded the pictures of celebration in the team hotel on her personal Instagram handle. However, it is not yet confirmed (again emphasis ours) that the player in question is MS Dhoni.”
Coming back to Dhoni’s cricket, SportzPower would not be surprised if next year’s Indian Premier League is when fans will next get to see the cricketing great in action in a high profile fixture.
