MS Dhoni will be back in cricketing action after one year as he will lead the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL 2024 edition. The tournament begins from March 22 onwards and defending champions CSK will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the opening match in Chepauk.
Dhoni, who played with a sore knee last year, underwent surgery for the same and spent his year recovering and rehabbing from it. He has also gone back to his vintage long-haired look and is looking fit and fine even at the age of 42.
However, ever since retiring from international cricket, MS Dhoni has kept himself busy with other things, be it his motor vehicle hobby or foray into movie production.
Former India speedster Zaheer Khan said that Cricket is important, but not everything for MS Dhoni.
“When you’re playing, switching off (from the game) is very important. Cricket is not everything. Every cricketer has to face this eventually. When you step away from the game, you may not have a lot of options. We’ve seen many athletes struggle after retiring because they gave everything to the game, and when they left it, they didn’t know what to do,” Zaheer said on JioCinema.
“In this sense, MS Dhoni understood a long time ago that he is passionate about cricket and it is an integral part of his life. But it couldn’t be everything. He keeps doing things outside of the sport. For example, his interest in bikes. He’s always researching them,” added Zaheer.
Parthiv Patel, another JioCinema expert, added, saying that for Dhoni, nothing comes without hard work.
“His processes are like the verse, ‘Karm kiye jao, fal ki chinta mat karo’. If you work hard and prepare properly, the results will follow. He keeps his processes simple. He does it himself and tries to impart that to the team. His process mantra is ‘whatever we perfect in practice is what we will replicate in the game’”, said the former wicketkeeper-batter.
On the other hand, Suresh Raina, who spent a lot of time with MS Dhoni in CSK, raised the question of who will captain the franchise after MS Dhoni hangs his gloves. Ambati Rayudu has suggested CSK hand captaincy to someone else in the middle but Suresh Raina feels Ruturaj Gaikwad is a good option.
“The biggest question is who’ll be their next captain? Even if Dhoni stepped away as captain, he’ll be in the dugout whether it’s as a mental toughness coach or just for his presence. But the question is, who is he going to nurture? This is a pivotal year for CSK. Who does MS have his eyes on? Ruturaj Gaikwad is a good option,” said Raina.
“You handle this now, I’ve been looking after the team since 2008. You take care of the yellow, I will wear the jersey and sit in the dressing room’. It’s important now to see how he plans for the future. He’s 42-years-old. I would love to see him play for five more years, or at least two or three more years," added Raina.
MS Dhoni is tied with most IPL wins as captain with Rohit Sharma of MI with five wins each. The veteran keeper-batter will have a chance to better that record when IPL 2024 begins.
(JioCinema inputs)
