MS Dhoni’s close friend Arun Pandey clears the air on his retirement from cricket

Amid the intense speculation surrounding MS Dhoni’s future following India’s unsuccessful World Cup campaign, a close friend and business partner of the cricketer Arun Pandey has finally cleared the air on retirement. According to a report by PTI news agency, Pandey said that Dhoni has no immediate plans to hang his boot and termed the speculations as “unfortunate”.

“He has no immediate plans to retire. The constant speculation over the future of a great player like him is unfortunate,” PTI quoted Dhoni’s friend and business partner as saying.

The statement from Pandey has come two days ahead of team India’s selection for the West Indies tour, scheduled to start from August 3. Although, Dhoni is likely to be rested for the tour, the team selection will clear the picture on Dhoni’s future plans.

Several reports, citing BCCI sources claimed that Dhoni will not be the automatic pick in the squad for West Indies tour and board officials are likely to speak to the two-time World Cup winning skipper about his future plans.

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Dhoni has captained India to titles in all major ICC events—World Cup, World T20 and Champions Trophy. His last international innings of 50 ended in heartbreak for the entire nation as he was run out with India 24 needing runs to win in 9 balls.

According to sources, former Indian skipper Kapil Dev had also spoken to Dhoni during the World Cup in England. The sources said that Kapil Dev had asked Dhoni not to take a call on his retirement in haste. Besdies Kapil Dev, senior BCCI official Diana Edulji had also said that Dhoni has still left a lot of cricket in him.

The man from Ranchi have turned up for the country in 350 ODIs, 90 Tests and 98 T20 Internationals. He has amassed 10,773 ODI runs at an average of over 50 while in Test cricket, Dhoni accumulated 4876 runs at 38.09.