Dubai: Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will not charge any fee for mentoring the Indian cricket team during this month’s T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said on Tuesday.The iconic former captain was brought in as mentor by the BCCI last month when it announced the squad for the mega-event, scheduled to start on October 17.
Dhoni will not charge anything to mentor the Indian team, Ganguly said.
The 40-year-old Dhoni retired from international cricket last year, his last India game being the 2019 World Cup semi-final, which the team lost to New Zealand.
It is believed that Dhoni was brought in for his experience in devising near-perfect white ball strategies. He led his franchise Chennai Super Kings into the IPL finals on Sunday. One of the most successful captains in the history of Indian cricket, the enigmatic wicketkeeper-batter led India to two world titles — the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa and the 2011 ODI World Cup in India.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya will be staying with the Indian team but is expected to play purely as a batter in the T20 World Cup as his back is still not in a condition to take the stress of fast medium bowling. It is learnt that KKR’s rising opener-cum-seam bowler Venkatesh Iyer will be asked to stay in the bubble as cover.