MS Dhoni spotted playing volleyball in Maldives

New Delhi, Feb 4:  Away from the limelight, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was spotted playing playing volleyball with his group of friends in the Maldives as Team India get ready to take on New Zealand in the ODI series after sweeping the T20I series 5-0.

A video of Dhoni playing volleyball went viral on social media. The former India captain was seen wearing a black T-shirt and enjoying his time on the beach with friends.

The most talked about issue in Indian cricket recently has been about when Dhoni will be back on the field.

While there have been murmurs that the Ranchi stumper must retire as he will find it difficult to make a comeback, India opener Rohit Sharma recenly said Dhoni is the best skipper the country has had.

"MS Dhoni is the one who has been like that. It's in-born. It has helped him to make such good decisions on the field and now you see he is the most successful Indian captain with all three ICC trophies with him and many IPL titles as well. He is the best captain India has seen and there's a reason behind it - which is being calm and composed under a situation," Rohit said in one of the episodes of Curly Tales.

Even after Virat Kohli took over the captaincy duties, Dhoni continued to be a key member in the decision-making team and was a guide for the fast bowlers. Elaborating on this, the dashing Mumbai batsman said: "I have seen him handle a lot of young bowlers when they get under pressure, he just goes and puts his arm around them and talks to them about what needs to be done."

Dhoni has been away from the game since India's exit in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup and that has led to questions being raised about whether he will make a comeback or not.

Former skipper Kapil Dev said Dhoni's comeback looks difficult as he has not played for a long time.

"If you haven't played cricket for so long then I don't think you can come back from anywhere. But he still has IPL, his form there'll be important and selectors should see what is best for the country. Dhoni has done a lot for the country but when you don't play for 6-7 months, you leave a doubt in everyone's mind. And then that creates a lot of discussions which shouldn't happen," Kapil was quoted as saying by ABP News.

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar had also earlier raised questions over Dhoni's sabbatical. "Fitness is something that I can't tell you anything about. The question that needs to be asked is of MSD himself. He has not made himself available to play for India since tenth of July. That is the important question. Does anybody keep himself away from playing for this long? That is the question and therein lies the answer," he had said.