Bengaluru: Head to these grounds to watch MS Dhoni play

Bengaluru, Dec 9: Cricket fans in the city can watch India's limited overs captain MS Dhoni in action from tomorrow (December 10) till next Thursday (December 17) as he will be playing in a domestic tournament after a gap of 8 years.

Under the captaincy of fast bowler Varun Aaron, Dhoni will turn up in Jharkhand colours at the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament. Dhoni and his team-mates will open their campaign against Jammu and Kashmir at the KSCA's Alur ground, on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Dhoni last played for Jharkhand in 2007 when he had featured in the East Zone matches of Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament in Kolkata.

Thursday's match will be the first competitive game for Dhoni since October 25, when he played in the 5th and final ODI of the series against South Africa in Mumbai.

Jharkhand are in Group B with hosts Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Railways and Kerala. The presence of Dhoni is a big boost for the team.

The 34-year-old Dhoni started preparations for the tournament yesterday (December 8) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Ahead of next month's limited overs tour to Australia, these 6 matches are perfect preparation for Dhoni.

With very little interest for domestic matches, the presence of Dhoni might bring the crowds to the venues. Jharkhand play 5 of their 6 games at Alur grounds. The other one, against Kerala is at Chinnaswamy Stadium. There are 3 grounds at the 30-acre Alur facility, owned by Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).

Not only Dhoni, other Indian stars including Test captain Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma and others will play at other venues in India in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Kohli is in Delhi squad captained by Gautam Gambhir.

Jharkhand squad: MS Dhoni, Sumit Kumar, Ishank Jaggi, Sourav Tiwary, Anand Singh, Kumar Deobrat, Kaushal Singh, Varun Aaron (captain), Rahul Shukla, Shabaz Nadeem, Sonu Singh, Monu Kumar, S P Goutam, Ankit Dabas and Jaskaran Singh.

Here are the fixtures for Jharkhand's team in Vijay Hazare Trophy

(All matches start at 9 AM IST, in Bengaluru) - Free entry for public

1. December 10 (Thursday) Vs Jammu and Kashmir (Alur ground 1)

2. December 11 (Friday) Vs Gujarat (Alur ground 3)

December 12 (Saturday) - REST DAY for all teams

3. December 13 (Sunday) Vs Kerala (M Chinnaswamy Stadium)

4. December 14 (Monday) Vs Haryana (Alur ground 3)

5. December 15 (Tuesday) Vs Karnataka (Alur ground 2)

December 16 (Wednesday) - REST DAY for all teams

6. December 17 (Thursday) Vs Railways (Alur ground 1)

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