At 35, MS Dhoni knows he is under scanner

Mumbai: MS Dhoni has been on the wrong end of criticism as far as his captaincy goes. Former Team Director Ravi Shastri also went on record to say that Virat Kohli, India’s Test skipper, must take over from ‘Captain Cool’ and let Dhoni enjoy the game. While India’s World Cup-winning skipper refused to comment on the issue, he admitted that he will be under scrutiny when the team embarks for the tour of Zimbabwe on Wednesday.

“I am 35 right now and the day I am not able to run as fast as I am running right now, I know where the guns will be coming from,” said Dhoni, while addressing the media ahead of the team’s departure.

"It's not that I don't enjoy the game, this decision will be taken by the BCCI, it's not up to me to decide on that," he added.

Although the Indian skipper has won everything that’s there to win in the shorter formats, representing India keeps him going.

“More than what you have achieved in your career, it is only for a brief period of time that you can represent your country internationally. Representing your country is the biggest motivation for me. To achieve that I need to keep myself fit,” he said.

Dhoni now has set his eyes on fitness.

“Form is something that will keep going up and down. You can’t control that. Fitness is something that is very important. I am not a fast bowler. The kind of demand that is there from my body is different. You have to be very fit for the kind of work I do. Quite a few people think that it is wicket-keeping and batting but there is considerable amount of load on the body,” he added.

As opposed to a bowler or a batsman, Dhoni- the wicketkeeper- has his routine chalked out.

“A fast bowler may bowl a number of overs but with the wicketkeeper it is set; you can maximum keep 90 overs a day. Your workload does not vary too much. But what it does it helps you to become fitter and fitter,” added Dhoni.

Dhoni, who will be leading a new-look side in Zimbabwe, said the team’s strength lies in its bowling.

“Bumrah has improved in the period of time. He has got a good IPL. Barinder has got a lot of exposure. We saw him improve right from the first game till the last game. When it comes to the spinners, Chahal and Axar are veterans when it comes to the limited-overs format although Chahal will be very new into this set-up. Jayant is there. You can say that the bowling has a bit more exposure than our batting.”

“For batsmen, in Indian scenario, we have always seen that you don’t get to play in your favourite slot when you represent the nation. According to that you have to quickly adjust to the demands of the game and that is a good thing as you can show the adaptability factor there. When a team needs you to bat at a particular position, how well you understand the game at that point of time and change it to contribute to the team’s win will help,” Dhoni concluded.