Matthew Hayden, former Australia, and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter has said that MS Dhoni is fitter than most of the athletes at his age and can continue to play in the IPL as long as he wants.

Hayden’s comments came after CSK were eliminated from the race for the playoffs in IPL 2022 after their 5-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, May 12.

Whether MS Dhoni will play in IPL 2023 remains to be seen given that he will be 41 when the next year’s edition of the tournament will take place. Dhoni retired from international cricket but he has continued to play IPL for CSK.

Dhoni has been in impressive form for CSK in IPL 2022 despite the 4-time champions failing to string a series of wins. The captain has managed 199 runs at an average of over 30 and a strike rate of over 130 this season.

Matthew Hayden has been amazed at Dhoni’s ability to run between the wickets and keep himself fit.

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“How fast he is running between the wickets, my goodness! This is a guy that has really gone beyond the age of a normal athlete within a competition of this level. Good on him. If he wants to keep playing, he can because he is certainly turning up for his team,” Hayden told Star Sports.

Dhoni was made captain of the CSK midway into the IPL 2022 after CSK lost 6 out of the first 8 matches under Ravindra Jadeja’s captaincy. Jadeja was named CSK captain two days before the IPL 2022 began.

Hayden said having a composed person like Dhoni and building a team around him makes so much sense for CSK.

“It’s so important from a leadership point of view that you have someone like an MSD at the helm. Just having the certainty that you can pick someone in the team and then go through picking the rest of the team. That confidence he brings to the team, it’s all the things we love about MSD,’ Hayden said.