CSK are sitting pretty in the IPL 2023 points table at the second spot with 13 points.
Dhoni's team is still a notch above the rest with most teams on 10 points, despite having lost two out of their last four games while one was washed out. The buzz has been going around that this might be the 41-year-old Dhoni's last IPL, though he is yet to officially confirm the same.
With the chances of CSK looking bright to make the playoffs, former India coach Ravi Shastri analyzed the reasons behind the four-time champions looking so dangerous and the 'Dhoni factor'.
"He's (Dhoni) a master at creating combination. It's intuitive. it's understanding. Probably persisting with a guy who might not be good in 2022, but having the foresight to believe that he'll be very good in 2023, gives him the confidence in 2022 to go through the grind. Thinking ahead. He would have done that with few players. I won't be surprised. I am not in the mix there. I don't know," Ravi Shastri said on ESPNCricinfo.
"But definitely he thinks in that fashion. When you look at this side now, who looks almost certain to make it to the playoffs and looks extremely dangerous when it comes to the playoffs, two games in Chennai, it's a team that can go the distance. Because it's already settled. If there is any tinkering, it will be because of injury. Otherwise, they've got it right," he said.
CSK will next play DC on May 10, 2023, in Chennai.