When he was away from the field with a sore thumb, Indian captain MS Dhoni made full use of his rest days. He met up with friends, chatted with acquaintances and spent some quality time with his family members. He also had quite a few bike rides and caught up with his favourite TV shows.
Dhoni also used this break to do some regimented fitness drills and lost a bit of body weight in the process. This welcome break not only gave him that extra bit of freshness, but also helped him immensely to get ready for the Australia challenge.
Incidentally, when the selectors picked the Test team for the four-match Test series against Australia, Dhoni was still recovering from his sore thumb and so he was duly excused from the first Test match, which was scheduled to be held in Brisbane earlier. Ten days later, he started attending net sessions with the Jharkhand Ranji Trophy team.
By the time, he was ready to board the flight for Australia, the Test series was rescheduled after Phil Hughes’ unfortunate demise. For days before the first Test match in Adelaide, Dhoni joined the team. Both physically and mentally, he was in perfect shape to be a part of the opening Test, but he opted out of the match to get acclimatized to the conditions. The team management too endorsed his thought process. Kohli, as per the arrangement made earlier by the selectors, eventually led the team.
So when did he pick up this sore thumb problem? Towards the fag end of the England tour earlier this year, Dhoni was stressed with his sore thumb on the right hand. He knew taking rest was the only way out. But he had no choice but to fulfil his commitment as the skipper of the ODI team. Which he did.
Dhoni even got some rest before the West Indies series started at home. That time, his thumb wasn’t in the best shape, still he went ahead and played for India. However, in the course of the first three matches against the West Indies at home, he realized once again that taking rest for nearly a month was the only option to heal the thumb. With the 2015 World Cup round the corner, Dr Cricket learnt that Dhoni finally decided to take rest as a precautionary measure before it could have turned into a serious injury. So, he was ruled out of the ODI series against visiting Sri Lankan team.
