MSD interacts with Indian team ahead of first T20I against NZ at Ranchi

RANCHI: Ahead of Team India's first T20I against New Zealand in Ranchi, former Indian skipper and wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni stopped by at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi and interacted with the Men in Blue.

In a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Dhoni was seen interacting with the skipper Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Washington Sundar among others.

"Look who came visiting at training today in Ranchi - the great @msdhoni! #TeamIndia | #INDvNZ," said the post by BCCI.

MS Dhoni is considered as one of the greatest Indian cricketers and skippers of all time. In a total of 538 international matches across all formats of the game, Dhoni scored 17,266 runs at an average of 44.96 and a strike rate of 79.07 in 526 innings.

Dhoni scored a total of 16 centuries and 108 half-centuries in the sport, with the best individual score of 224. Across all formats, Dhoni has an excellent record as a wicketkeeper, having taken 634 catches and 195 stumpings, which is a total of 829 dismissals.

He has the third most dismissals in his cricket career, behind Australian legend Adam Gilchrist (905) and South African great Mark Boucher (998).

He is also the only captain in the world to have captured all three major ICC tournaments, starting with the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup (2007), then ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 and finally the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013.

Dhoni is also a highly successful leader at the franchise cricket level, having led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to Indian Premier League (IPL) titles in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021. Coming to the series, India won the ODI leg of the series against New Zealand by 3-0 and became the number one side in the 50-over format.

Now, they will play three T20Is against the Kiwis, starting from Friday onwards till February 1. India's T20I squad against New Zealand: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar.