25 July,2019 01:33 PM IST | | mid-day online desk
MS Dhoni in army uniform (pic/ MS Dhoni Instagram)
India's World Cup-winning former captain MS Dhoni fulfilled his promise of joining the army by beginning his 2-month long training with Indian Army's Parachute Regiment. On Wednesday, MS Dhoni joined a battalion, which has its headquarters in Bengaluru.
A source told IANS that the plan was already in place since a long time.
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"Just like Dhoni has been one of the greatest servants of Indian cricket, his love for the armed forces is also well known. This idea that he would go and spend time with his regiment was in the pipeline for a while but it took a backseat due to his cricketing commitments."
"This will also help increase awareness among the youth about the armed forces and that is what Dhoni wants," the source said.
The 38-year-old holds the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army unit of the Parachute Regiment (106 Para TA battalion).
The honour was accorded to him by the Indian Army in 2011. Dhoni was given this honour along with Abhinav Bindra and Deepak Rao.
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In 2015, the Ranchi lad became a qualified paratrooper after having completed five parachute training jumps from Indian Army aircrafts in the Agra training camp.
Earlier there were speculations about MS Dhoni's retirement from cricket after the World Cup 2019 got over. Dhoni took a sabbatical from cricket and made himself unavailable for India's tour to West Indies in August 2019.
MS Dhoni had a mediocre World Cup 2019 with critics and few ex-cricketers questioning his playing style and his slow batting in particular during the mega cricket event.
MS Dhoni is the only Indian captain to win two World Cups for India, the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup.
With inputs from IANS
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