Coach Fleming is unsure of Dhoni's plans after the CWC 2019.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming had an interview with PTI today. He was asked about MS Dhoni's future plans in international cricket and with the Super Kings. He personally, like millions of cricket fans around the world, wants the great man to continue playing the IPL.
He was asked how long would Dhoni continue playing cricket at the top level. He said, "I don’t know. I certainly was hoping that he was going to get through to the World Cup. What he wants to do after that I am not sure. We haven’t had those discussions. Most of the discussion was around whether he would make it to the World Cup. He answered that pretty emphatically in the last 12 months."
He appreciated Dhoni's form over the last 12 months and would like him to continue the same even after the mega event in England just after the IPL. He wants Dhoni to continue playing for CSK till the end of his cricketing career.
He said, "I would love him to carry on for Chennai till the end of this cycle and we will then assess. But it’s a question for him and his motivation. He is playing well, leading well, seems to be enjoying well. So that’s three key factors that will keep him in the game for a long time."
Chennai's next match is against the Delhi Capitals at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Tuesday (26 March). DC batsman Rishabh Pant took the game away from the Mumbai Indians in their opening game on Sunday (24 March). He along with some big-hitters in the Delhi squad can prove to be game-changers against CSK.
On CSK's plans against Pant, the 45-year-old coach said, "Pant is a great young prospect, who played beautifully against some of the world’s best bowlers the other night. But then you can’t put too much emphasis on one player. You need to concentrate on your players. It’s fine to identify weakness in others and marry it up with your skill set. But then you need to have the skills to exploit it."
CSK used four spinners in Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja against RCB in Bangalore. It will be seen whether CSK go with the same strategy against DC.
On that, he said, "It (pitch) is reasonably dry and the fact that we use spinners as a tactic will be under consideration. One of the great challenges is to get the combination right. We will spend a lot of time talking to MS and be as accurate as we can with our tactic. We are pretty conservative with our combination in Chennai but each time we move away from Chennai, it depends on the combination."
(Source: PTI)