Hamilton (New Zealand): Mahendra Singh Dhoni has not played for the Indian cricket team since the 2019 ICC World Cup semifinal defeat against New Zealand and the explosive wicketkeeper-batsman is being missed, says India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Calling Mahendra Singh Dhoni a "legend", Chahal said the entire team misses the former skipper who led India to One Day International World Cup triumph at home in 2011.


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On Monday, as Team India hit the road from Auckland to Hamilton, Chahal revealed the spot where Dhoni used to sit in the team bus while traveling. In a 'Chahal TV' video posted by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the host of the show, Chahal was seen talking about how much the team misses Dhoni.


Shot inside the team bus on the way to Hamilton where Team India will on Wednesday take on New Zealand in the third T20I of the ongoing five-match series, the video shows Chahal sitting beside the empty corner seat at the back of the bus, and saying, "Yeh woh seat hai jaha ek legend baitthe the. Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni). Abhi bhi yaha koi nahi baittha. Hum unhe bohot miss karte hai (A legend used to sit here. M.S. Dhoni. No one sits here now. We miss him a lot)."

With his funny side up, the leg-spinner asserted that Dhoni wanted to feature in the Chahal TV couple of times and even requested the spinner about the same.

In the video, Chahal can be seen having funny conversations with Indian pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, spinner Kuldeep Yadav and opener KL Rahul.

Head coach Ravi Shastri has already revealed that Dhoni might still be considered for the T20 World Cup -- slated to be played in Australia in October-November 2020 -- if he performs well at the IPL which begins March 29.

On January 16, Dhoni was omitted from the BCCI list of central contracts. However on the same day, the 38-year-old trained with the Jharkhand Ranji team.