After a rare dismal campaign last year, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bounced back brilliantly to clinch the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 title on Monday (May 29).
CSK defeated table-toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final by five wickets (DLS method) to bag their fifth IPL title at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
It was a rain-marred affair, in which GT piled up a mammoth 214/4 on the board and CSK chased down the revised target of 171 on the final delivery of their stipulated 15 overs.
A day after the game, CSK franchise owner N Srinivasan spoke to skipper MS Dhoni and congratulated him and his team for the triumph.
“Fantastic captain. You have done a miracle. Only you can do it. We are proud of the boys and the team,” Srinivasan told Dhoni, as quoted by PTI.
He advised Dhoni to take rest following the back-to-back match schedule over the last few days and invited him to visit Chennai along with the team to rejoicing their success.
“This season has been one where the fans have demonstrated how much they love MS Dhoni. So do we,” Srinivasan said.
Following the title win, Dhoni said it won’t be easy for him to play one more IPL season but he will try his best to give a gift to his fans.
“Looking for an answer? Circumstantially if you see, this is the best time to announce my retirement. But the amount of love and affection I have been shown wherever I have been this year, the easy thing would be for me to say "Thank you very much", but the tough thing for me is to work hard for another 9 months and come back and play at least 1 more season of IPL. A lot depends on the body, I have 6-7 months to decide. It will be more like a gift from my side, it's not easy for me but that's a gift. The way they've shown their love and affection, I think that's something I need to do for them,” the 41-year-old said at the post-match presentation.
“You do get emotional simply because it's the last part of my career, it started over here and the first game when I walked down everyone was chanting my name. My eyes were full of water and I just stood there in the dugout for a while. I realised I want to enjoy this. It was the same thing in Chennai, it was my last game over there but it will be good to come back and play whatever I can. I think they love me for what I am, they love that I am so grounded, I don't try to portray something I'm not. Just keep it simple. Every trophy is special, but what is special about IPL is every crunch game you need to be read,” he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
