Dhoni praises Chappell

India coach Greg Chappell earned a lot of praise from wicketkeeper Mahender Singh Dhoni who said he has immensely benefitted working under the Australian.

"Chappell is a well-informed coach and he knows how to bring out the best from the players", Dhoni said after inaugurating the first edition of Jharkhand State Cricket Associations's (JSCA) quarterly newsletter in the JSCA office in Jamshedpur on Tuesday.

"I have immensely benifitted under his guidance as coach", Dhoni said in the presence of JSCA president Amitabh Choudhury, who was the manager of the Indian team during its Zimbabwe visit.

Dhoni said he had to improve his performance further to get a berth in the Test matches.

Apart from the Challenger trophy, he said the forthcoming one-day series against South Africa and Sri Lanka will be vital for him to prove his mettle to reserve a berth in the longer version of the game.

"I have been working hard to further improve my performance in the two forthcoming ODI series, where I will be playing altogether 12 matches", he said.

To a query about which particular slot in the batting line-up he would prefer to play, Dhoni said it depends on the team management.

It will be advantageous for me to play in different slots in the batting order as this would help me to fulfill the requirement of the team management. I have not yet been tried in some other slots, he said.

Asked whether he will play for Jharkhand in the forthcoming Ranji Trophy matches, Dhoni said he wanted to play for the state in as many matches as possible depending on his availability.

Confirming that he will will play at least three four-day match of the domestic tournament, Dhoni said he was yet to go through the schedule of the limitied-over version of the tournament to confirm his participation.

"Even if I get a day's gap, I will certainly play for the state", Dhoni said while lauding the selection of left arm spinner Shawaz Nadeem for being selected for the India A team in the Challenger trophy.

Nadeem has the potential and temperament to rise further, said Dhoni, who played alongside Nadeem in the domestic tournaments.

Choudhury said JSCA had already announced that Dhoni will lead the Jharkhand team in the Ranji trophy matches. However, in the absence of Dhoni Chandra Mohan Jha will be the skipper of the state team, he said.

The Secretary of JSCA, B N Singh announced that former skipper of undivided Bihar, V Venkatram will be the coach of Jharkhand Ranji team while Somnath Jha will coach the under-22 team.

Similarly, Victor Joseph will coach the under 19 team of the state, while Manik Ghosh and Jitendra Singh will coach under 17 and 15 team respectivelly, he added.