When you are a star as colossal as MS Dhoni is in Indian cricket, even the little thing you say has the potential to create social media trends. Asked ahead of the season end in Indian Premier League last year whether we have seen the last of him in yellow, the former India captain had said “definitely not.”
At the toss before CSK’s last group stage game of IPL 2021, New Zealand cricketer Danny Morrison (again) asked, “What about one of those trending questions, how about next year... are we going to see you in yellow again?”
Here’s what Dhoni had to say:
“Well, you can see me in yellow but whether I’ll be playing for CSK... you know, there are a lot of uncertainties around it. For the simple reason, there two new teams are coming in, we don’t know what the retention policies are, on how many foreign players and Indians you can retain, what the money cap on every player. Unless the rules are in place, you can’t really decide. We’ll wait for it to happen and hopefully it will be good for everyone.”
Dhoni has retired from international cricket and is only playing for the men in yellow in the IPL. After failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s history in 2020, Dhoni-led CSK back into the post-season. The three-time champions became the first team to qualify for playoffs in IPL 2021.
The comment on the day is bound to create a flutter as earlier this week, while interacting with fans during the 75th year celebrations of ‘’India Cements’’, Dhoni dropped elaborate hints that he will be seen playing the next season with the CSK.
“When it comes to farewell, you can still come and see me play for CSK and that can be my farewell game. So, you will still get that opportunity to bid me farewell. Hopefully, we will come to see Chennai and play my last game over there and we can meet fans there,” Dhoni had said, as per PTI.
It is worth noting that Dhoni has been appointed mentor for the Indian international team at the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The auction ahead of IPL 2022 is supposed to be for a mega overhaul with two new teams expected to be added. The World Cup-winning India captain has not played in Chennai since 2019 as the 2020 IPL was held in the UAE. During the first leg of this year’s edition, CSK played its matches in Mumbai before the league was suspended due to a breach in the bio-bubble.
CSK lost Thursday’s match by six wickets for their third defeat on the trot and Dhoni stressed on ability to deal with pressure in the knockout stages. CSK have already secured a playoffs berth.
“You have to cope up with that. We had played very good cricket to reach the playoff stages. We had a few bad games 2 out of 3 and one we felt like we could have a comeback and that’s part and parcel in leagues like these, you have to be at your best.
“Motivation is not a factor...maybe we need to tune up slightly as to what needs to be done and also a few tosses if they had gone our way,” he said.
With PTI inputs
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