New Delhi: India's limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday played a gutsy 70-run knock for Jharkhand, albeit for a losing cause in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy.
After a poor outing in the tournament, Dhoni once again showed his batting prowess during the 2nd quarter-final against Delhi.
Prior to that match, the Ranchi-born cricketer had scored just 109 runs from six matches in the tournament, 44 being his highest score against Gujarat.
Considering his deteriorating form in limited-overs cricket, the upcoming Australian tour will be a big challenge for him.
Since India have already registered two series wins under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, pressure is mounting on Dhoni.
Under Dhoni, India lost both T20 and ODI series against South Africa, post which the Kohli-led squad thrashed the World No. 1 Test team in the traditional format of the game.
It is very crucial from India's perspective that Dhoni finds his rhythm on the Australian soil.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) earlier announced the squads for the Australian tour where Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra made a comeback in the T20 squad.
Here are the squads announced for the Australian tour by the BCCI:
ODI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(C), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Maan, Rishi Dhawan, Brainder Sran
T20: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(C), Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra
The tour comprises five ODIs and three T20 Internationals to be played between January 12 and 31 at Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney (ODIs), Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney (T20Is).
