5 Reasons Why India's Tour Of Zimbabwe Is A Big Deal For MS Dhoni

Reuters

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's next assignment as Team India captain is in Zimbabwe where he and a squad of 15 other not so experienced players will play three ODIs and three T20s international in June. The series start with the ODIs first on June 11, 13 and 15 while the T20s will be played on June 18, 20 and 22 at the Harare Sports Club. We look at reasons why this tour should be a massive deal for Dhoni the skipper. 

1. He Needs To Put His IPL Failures To Rest

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Dhoni's last ball-six win over for Rising Pune Supergiants over Kings XI Punjab was definitely one of the highlights of the league stage of the Indian Premier League. But what his 32-ball 64 couldn't hide was he still struggled with the bat throughout the tournament. Barring his only fifty in the series, Dhoni had quite low figures of scoring 220 runs in 12 innings at an average of 18.33. Since his side was marred with unwanted injuries to key overseas players, the pressure of putting up big totals fell on Dhoni. Now, on this tour of Zimbabwe, Dhoni would want to put that aside and just enjoy with a bunch of youngsters.  

2. His Experience Will Come In Handy For The Stars Of The Future

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Here's the squad Dhoni will lead: MS Dhoni (Captain), KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Rishi Dhawan, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal. 

Now that definitely reads like an India B team but it just goes to show the strength of bench strength India has. "Zimbabwe tour is looked as specially for the youngsters to try and test them. The young team which has been sent should give their best and perform. Nothing better opportunity than this. They will get ample experience from this. Dhoni himself wanted to tour Zimbabwe and help the youngsters," is what national chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said after picking the squad.

3. He Is 82 Runs Away From Reaching 9000 Runs

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Although Dhoni doesn't dwell too much in numbers but there are milestone opportunities that lie ahead of him. Dhoni needs just 82 more runs to compete 9000 ODI runs and he will be the fifth Indian to achieve the landmark in ODIs after former captains Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin.

4. He Would've Probably Forgotten What Zimbabwe Looks Like Now

Reuters

Or maybe he wants to go to the African country for one last time as an international cricketer? The reason for such a speculation is that the last time Dhoni played in Zimbabwe was about 11 years ago when he was still a youngster flaunting his long locks. Dhoni has been since, rested for the next two limited overs overseas series against Zimbabwe. 

5. He Won't Get To Play Much After The Zimbabwe Tour

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That's for sure as India aren't slated to play many ODI and T20 international bilateral and tri-series' in the next 10 months. After the Zimbabwe tour, India will primarily be playing Test cricket, almost 17 Tests till March 2017 after which the IPL will be played.