If MS Dhoni Comes To Watch, We Will Be More Excited: KL Rahul

ranchi : India stand-in captain KL Rahul on Saturday said he would be happy to have former India captain MS Dhoni come to watch the first ODI against South Africa in Ranchi.

The opening match of the three-match ODI series will take place in Dhoni’s hometown Ranchi on November 30. During the pre-match press conference, the stand-in India captain was asked if MS Dhoni would be able to participate in the match and what impact his presence could have on the team and the crowd.

In response, Rahul recalled his early days playing under the name ‘Captain Cool’. “We all played under MS Dhoni. We were all his fans and played together, so we are all friends. It is a happy opportunity to know someone as great as MS and as successful as an Indian player. We all respected him as a human being,” Rahul said.

“So if he comes to watch the match, we will be more excited in the stands. The excitement will increase. He will be happy and the audience will come and we will have fun playing here. I hope we can win the match and put in a good performance and entertain the audience and MS Dhoni as well. He will also be happy that we won the match,” he added.

Rahul will lead India in the ODI series against South Africa due to the elimination of regular ODI skipper Shubman Gill. Gill suffered the injury on Day 2 of the Kolkata Test. He retired injured after facing just three balls and was later taken to hospital. He did not recover in time and will continue his medical evaluation in Mumbai.

The India squad for the ODI series includes Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (Captain) (Wicketkeeper), Rishabh Pant (Wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh and Dhruv. Jurel.