Dhoni Pension Update, India A Over IPL, RCB & Shreyas Iyer Hazlewood was injured?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sent the first batch of the India A squad to England. Some of these players haven’t even completed their stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but the board decided to send them anyway. The BCCI have also backtracked from their own statement from 4 years ago regarding Indian captaincy. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirement will please England, as per a former spinner. Josh Hazlewood has returned to India for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Shreyas Iyer might be injured and MS Dhoni has provided a retirement update.

BCCI backpedals from split captaincy decision

By announcing Shubman Gill, India’s Test captain, BCCI has eaten their own words. Back in 2021, the board had removed Virat Kohli as India’s ODI captain after he decided to step down as the T20I skipper, as they wanted a one-format captain. Why did BCCI backpedal? A well-placed source told InsideSport that the board doesn’t want split captaincy even now but the circumstances are such that they have been forced to appoint three skippers.

Players skip IPL for India A

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shardul Thakur, among other players who are part of the India A squad, have left for England. Gaikwad, who wasn’t fit to play for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has regained fitness, it seems. Same for Shardul Thakur, who won’t play for Lucknow Super Giants against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 27 as per BCCI’s instruction.

England happy with Rohit-Kohli retirement

Former England spinner Monty Panesar believes that Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum would be pleased to see neither Virat Kohli nor Rohit Sharma in India’s batting lineup in the upcoming Test series. Panesar believes England have an advantage without the star batters and English bowlers will be more confident of themselves as they won’t have to bowl to Rohit and Kohli.

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MS Dhoni to retire before IPL 2026?

As CSK were playing their final match of IPL 2025, it was bound that MS Dhoni was going to be asked the retirement question. As expected, Dhoni gave a politically correct answer. He neither denied the fact that this could be his last IPL match nor the possibility of a return for IPL 2026. Dhoni did, however, say that we’ll get to know about his decision in 4-5 months.

Is Shreyas Iyer injured?

Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer has injured his index finger. Shreyas was his team’s highest scorer against Delhi Capitals on May 24 but didn’t take the field in the second innings. Asked further about his injury, Shreyas said he isn’t sure himself but expects to be available to face the Mumbai Indians for a chance to make the Qualifier 1.

Josh Hazlewood boost for RCB

RCB haven’t won a match since May 3. And soon enough, they’ll lose their foreign players from South Africa and England as well. But luckily for them, Josh Hazlewood is back. The pacer was dealing with an injury and was expected to return from Australia before the IPL 2025 Playoffs. Hazlewood is back, and at a perfect time, as RCB needs to beat PBKS to reach Qualifier 1.