The now postponed Indian Premier League season 13 was supposed to be the comeback vehicle of one MS Dhoni. The former India captain had not played any cricket since the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup in England and this was supposed to be his chance of a return to the Indian team.
The IPL 2020, which was supposed to start on March 29, was postponed to April 15, as PM Modi announced the country was being locked down for 21 days from March 24 onwards. Now with the rising numbers of cases in India, which stand at more than 8,300 and more than 270 deaths; the extension of lockdown is all but confirmed.
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Before everything came to a halt due to the Coronavirus pandemic, MS Dhoni, along with many other Chennai Super King teammates were in Chepauk for a preparatory camp which featured Suresh Raina as well.
The players were extremely impressed by the way MS Dhoni was practicing in the nets with a match-like intensity. CSK’s newest acquisition in the auction, Piyush Chawla mentioned, "Mahi bhai was absolutely focused, training purposefully and was looking really good. He was showing match-like intensity in the way he was batting and keeping and that was rubbing off on others.”
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"Mahi bhai was batting for two to three hours at nets every day, and the way he was hitting the ball no one could say he was returning from a long break. The way he was training was a huge motivation for the rest of us," leggie Karn Sharma said in a chat with the CSK website.
"During match simulations, he was very involved, speaking to the bowlers, and the rhythm he was in, it was a big boost for our team," Sharma said.
Meanwhile, CSK bowling coach L Balaji described Dhoni as a natural athlete.
"MS is a natural athlete and supremely fit. He didn't look rusty, didn't look one bit like he was away from the game. He was clearly looking forward to the season, the way he was training, batting, keeping and being involved with the team," Balaji added.
Team physiotherapist Tommy Simsek mentioned that it was for the first time in 10 years he had seen Dhoni doing wicketkeeping drills. "For the first time in about 10 years I saw MS do some wicketkeeping training and that goes to show that he was definitely keen, definitely focused to do well this year," he added.
"I was worried that he hadn't done much for a long time and then that he would try and do too much, too soon and he may get injured. It turned that I need not have worried - MS being the professional, he looked in really good shape. He said he'd started (training) a month or so before our fitness camp," Simsek said.
(Chennai Super Kings website inputs)
