Why did Dhoni decide to skip the Vijay Hazare Trophy?
What's the story
It was expected that Indian veteran wicket-keeper batsman, MS Dhoni, would be representing Jharkhand during the knock-out stages of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, but he has decided to skip the same.
Notably, Dhoni wasn't seen in the net sessions held at the NCA in Bengaluru.
Jharkhand's next knock-out tie is against Maharashtra on Monday.
Here is more about Dhoni's decision.
Decision
'Dhoni didn't want to unsettle the team'
According to a report in ESPN, Jharkhand coach Rajiv Kumar said that he didn't receive any official word regarding Dhoni's availability.
Kumar opined that the possible reason could be that Dhoni might not have wanted to unsettle the Jharkhand's combination.
Further, Dhoni was only available for the encounter against Maharashtra, hence it didn't make sense to come in for just one game.
Details
Dhoni has to report for ODI series
Dhoni is a part of ODI squad for West Indies series, starting October 21.
"He has to go to Hyderabad on October 16 to report for the ODI series. Maybe he will come for a day, I don't know yet what his plan is, but so far, he is not coming," said Kumar.
Dhoni has, himself, taken the call to skip the domestic tourney.
Vijay Hazare
Dhoni's miss puts the focus on him
An out of form Dhoni being available for Jharkhand, was discussed post the Asia Cup last month.
Jharkhand have done well so far and topped their group with 32 points.
With the semis scheduled for October 17 and 18 respectively, Dhoni would have missed out on these games.
Chief selector MSK Prasad had stated recently that Dhoni would be participating in the tourney.
Situation
Dhoni has been under pressure
Dhoni has been under scrutiny as his form, with the bat, has dipped considerably.
He faced a lot of criticism in the series against England in July.
In the Asia Cup too, he couldn't go on to play the trademark knock of a finisher that wins games.
There have been discussions on whether he should be dropped, but that's unlikely to happen.