'Don't mess around with MS Dhoni's plans,' Ravi Shastri backs India's World Cup-winning captain

Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has backed MS Dhoni saying that "the guy is a legend and the last thing he will want is to impose himself on an Indian team."

Dhoni took a sabbatical from international cricket following India's semi-final loss to New Zealand in the 2019 Cricket World Cup earlier this year in England. When questions began to pour about his return, Dhoni recently broke his silence and said," don't ask me till January."

Backing his World Cup-winning skipper, Shastri has asked the media and public to not mess around with Dhoni's future plans.

"That guy is a legend. The last thing he will want is to impose himself on an Indian team, having known him. He is wanting to take a break but he is going to play the IPL.

The amount of sport he has played... if he puts himself in contention... if he feels after the IPL that 'I am good enough to play for India', don't mess around with that," Shastri said in an episode of India Today Inspiration.

Dhoni is one of the most successful leaders in the IPL, having won three trophies - 2010, 2011 and 2018 - with Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The 2018 win was a tad more special because the title victory came right after they had returned from a two-year suspension.

Earlier, Dhoni also received the backing of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, who insisted that there is enough time to take a call on the gloveman's future.

"There is clarity, but certain things cannot be said on the public platform. There is absolute clarity on MS Dhoni and you'll find out in time. There's transparency between the Board, MS and the selectors.

When you deal with such champions - MS Dhoni is an unbelievable athlete for India - certain things have to be kept within the closed doors. It's very transparent and everybody knows where they stand," Ganguly added.

While Dhoni is away from cricket, he is busy producing a show on decorated Indian army officers.

The former Indian captain, who is also Honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Parachute Regiment of the Territorial Army, aims at bringing the journey of army officers into the limelight through the show.

The show, which is yet to be titled, will be produced under Dhoni Entertainment Pvt Ltd in collaboration with StudioNext, the content creation wing of SET India and mostly will be aired on Sony TV.