Speculations are rife that Dhoni will call time on his professional cricketer after the IPL 2023 final.
With the IPL 16 season set to come to an end on Monday (May 29), MS Dhoni’s future with CSK has become a topic of discussion all over again.
While Dhoni has retired from international cricket in 2020, he continues to feature in the Indian Premier League. The 41-year-old has given mixed signals throughout the season on the question of his retirement, leaving the fans and media in a confused state.
Reacting to the speculations of Dhoni’s retirement, former India skipper Kapil Dev has said that people should be thankful that the CSK captain kept entertaining for 15 years and he can’t be expected to continue playing for the entirety of his life.
“He’s (Dhoni) been playing for 15 years," Kapil said on ABP News. “What else do we want from him? Should he continue playing for the rest of his life? It won’t happen. We should be thankful that a player (of such caliber) came who continued playing for 15 years. He may not play tomorrow or next season but Dhoni has played some brilliant cricket towards the end."
“He may not have scored heavily but has kept hold of the team. This show the importance of a captain. Maybe, in other games captain isn’t that important but in cricket it’s significant and that’s what Dhoni has shown," he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that Dhoni has been nursing a knee injury that he sustained during the training camp in the lead-up to IPL 2023. In many of the CSK games, he has shown signs of discomfort while running between the wickets.
Kapil hailed Dhoni for being able to keep himself match fit despite not playing on a regular basis.
“Hats off to him. If you play cricket throughout the year, it gets easier (to maintain fitness). If a player is just playing in IPL, then it’s quite difficult. He should he praised for that," the 1983 World Cup-winning captain said.
Kapil Dev feels the fans should be celebrating MS Dhoni’s illustrious career instead of being sad at the prospect of his retirement.
“Us fans know what Dhoni has done for cricket is incomparable. But Sachin (Tendulkar), (Sunil) Gavaskar, (Anil) Kumble, Yuvraj (Singh), (Virender) Sehwag all left. (Virat) Kohli will leave one day. When a player of such stature leaves, we should be celebrating it, not feeling sad. As a fan, I wouldn’t want Dhoni to leave but as a cricketer, it cannot get better," he remarked.