'Slim and sharp' Dhoni eyes World T20

India’s World Cup-winning skipper MS Dhoni arrives in Australia this week amid the same unanswered questions about his playing future that accompanied him throughout the team’s lengthy visit a year ago.

Dhoni, who will lead India through the five-match Victoria Bitter ODI Series and the three KFC T20 Internationals that follow, once more batted away questions about his plans when quizzed prior to the squad’s departure from Mumbai.

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The 34-year-old turned his back on Test cricket midway through India’s tour of Australia last summer, preferring to confirm the decision with a brief announcement on the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s website than addressing it in his media conference immediately after his final match in Melbourne.

Then, when India’s World Cup defence was ended by eventual winners Australia in a semi-final at the SCG last March, Dhoni provided a cryptic response when asked about his playing future in the short forms of the game.

“I think you all should do research and whatever you write, the opposite will be the truth," Dhoni told bemused reporters at the SCG.

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And so, on the eve of another Australia tour that precedes the ICC’s biennial World T20 tournament in India – that many speculate will act as Dhoni’s swansong from the international scene – the wicketkeeper-batsman has again brushed off questions about his playing future.

“I am somebody who always believes in the present, so you’re not going to get answers from me regarding the future, that’s too far ahead,” Dhoni told a media conference in Mumbai today.

“I’ve not really thought beyond (the Australia tour and the T20 World Cup), because all the energy and the resources and the thinking needs to go into this.

“It’s a very important three months, and after that we’ll see what happens.”

Dhoni’s preparedness for and commitment to winning the World T20 on home soil is reflected by the fact the first question of the media conference today noted how “slim and sharp” the man who led India to a famous World Cup triumph at home in 2011 currently appears.

Dhoni attributed his fitness largely to his decision to retire from Test cricket and hand the captaincy to Virat Kohli, who is also part of the squads that will play five ODIs and three T20 internationals in Australia, which has freed up time and energy to dedicate to an exercise regime.

As with the revamped Australia squad that India will face in the opening games of the ODI campaign that begins in Perth next week, Dhoni leads a new-look India team that contains a number of uncapped players.

They include seam-bowling all-rounders Rishi Dhawan and Hardik Pandya, spin-bowling all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh and left-arm pace bowler Barinder Sran.

The T20 squad also includes veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who has not played for India in Australia since playing a central role in the controversial, ill-tempered Test series of 2008-09.

Dhoni said that while the conditions his squad will face in Australia will be vastly different to those that will be rolled out for the WorldT20 that begins in March, the upcoming ODI and T20 series against Australia will give him and his selection panel a great opportunity to identify the best youngsters to play a role in that tournament.

And beyond, as teams slowly turn their focus to the next World Cup to be played in the UK in 2019.

“We always knew it was part of the plan to play three T20s over there (Australia), and the conditions will be very different to where we will play the World Cup,” Dhoni said today.

“But at the same time it’s good to have three T20s together because more often than not you get one T20 in a bilateral series or a maximum of two.

“It doesn’t give a lot of opportunities … to try different people at different slots, different bowling combinations so we will be in a better position for the start of the (T20) World Cup as to what our playing eleven may look like and what will be the best suited strategy for the team.

“I feel it’s a very exciting time.

“What’s even more important than just focusing on the results, we need to see which players have got stronger character and who can contribute more to the team because it’s difficult to figure out just in two or three games who is a player that can be a game changer in the next one or two years.

“What’s important is to see those glimpses, identify ‘okay, this is the one we need to work on’ and then back that guy in until he starts doing well.

“So it’s an opportunity for the youngsters and at the same time I think it’s something that we’ll love to see on the ground.”

India begin their three-week tour of Australia with a 50-over warm-up game against a Western Australia XI in Perth on Saturday ahead of the opening game against Australia at the WACA on the following Tuesday.

India squads

ODI: M.S. Dhoni (c), R. Ashwin, Rishi Dhawan, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Gurkeerat Singh, Barinder Sran, Umesh Yadav.

T20: M.S. Dhoni (c), R. Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Hardik Pandya, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Mohammed Shami, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Umesh Yadav.