MS Dhoni has no plans to retire as of now, says close friend

Clearing speculations surrounding MS Dhoni's retirement, his close friend and business partner Arun Pandey said that the cricketer does not have any plans of hanging his bat as of now.

"Dhoni has no plans to announce his retirement as of now and it is sad that people are talking about it despite knowing him. Let the decision be taken by Dhoni himself," Pandey told ANI.

When Pandey was asked about Dhoni's availability for the upcoming series against West Indies, he replied he had no idea about the same.

There has been widespread speculation regarding Dhoni's availability for the West Indies tour.

The 38-year-old had received a lot of criticism for his slow strike rate during the recently concluded Cricket World Cup.

Dhoni scored 273 runs in the tournament, but he was regularly criticised for slow strike-rate.

He faced a lot of flak for, what critics said, his baffling approach during the team's run-chase against England. In the semi-final, he scored 50 runs but as soon as he was run-out, India's hopes of reaching the finals dashed.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced that the selection meeting for India's tour of West Indies will be held on July 21.

India will start their Windies tour from August 3 and will play three T20s, three ODIs, and two Test matches.

In the recently concluded World Cup, India were defeated by New Zealand in the semi-final by 18 runs.

-ANI