Ranji Trophy: Jharkhand struggle on Day 1 but get 'Dhoni' boost

India's limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was present during the opening day proceedings of the Ranji Trophy semi-finals cheering his home state Jharkhand against Gujarat.

While Gujarat walked away with the honours on the first day with a scorecard reading 283 for 3, Dhoni clad in black round neck polo T and light grey track pants sat in the dug-out through the entire first day's play. Once the day's play was over, Dhoni was seen chatting with the boys as they were going through their cooldown routines.

Dhoni has been actively involved with Jharkhand's campaign this season as a mentor and has been present during a number of Jharkhand's Ranji Trophy matches including their fixture against Maharashtra at the Karnail Singh Stadium.

Having retired from Test matches, Dhoni has had more time now at his disposal. He has had a lot of influence on players like Ishan Kishan, Kaushal Singh, Shahbaz Nadeem to name a few. With Dhoni around, one can also expect that Gujarat's Priyank Panchal who has been the top-scorer in this edition with 1164 runs so far will get to chat with the Indian captain.