Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle feels former skipper Mahendra Sigh Dhoni's comeback into the Indian fold looks very difficult, considering the impact of Coronavirus pandemic on cricket.
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Dhoni was set to return to action for Chennai Super Kings in the 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) but the BCCI decided to postpone the tournament from March 29 to April 15 earlier this month due to COVID-19 outbreak.
With the rapidly increasing Coronavirus cases, the Indian government on March 24 imposed a nationwide 21-day lockdown and now the cancellation of cash-rich event looks inevitable.
“My gut feel is that his (Dhoni’s) India ambitions might be over. I don’t think Dhoni would have been looking to September-October for the T20 World Cup. Maybe if he just had a great IPL but my gut feel is that was beyond him,” Harsha said while speaking to Cricbuzz podcast.
Bhogle added that even though Dhoni might not make it to the Indian team, he still may want to contribute for his IPL franchise.
“I still do believe so that Dhoni desperately turnout for CSK. The reason I think so. Last year towards towards the end of the IPL, towards the end of the league stage I got an opportunity f doing a couple of post match presentations and there was Dhoni and he wasn’t holding back at the presentations which were normally three four minutes but this one seven to nine minutes almost and when Dhoni is in that talkative mode we don’t stop him,” he said.
“I asked him what it feels to be called Thalaiva by the CSK fans and what it meant to someone who was always associated to Ranchi to get this love from Chennai and for the first time I saw a little bit of softeness behind this facade that tells you nothing,” he further remarked.
“He talked about the great honour of being given this title, he said that when people give you that title how much they love and he said there is a lot of gratitude, I feel so greatly when I am among these fans. I thought there was this slightly softer side of Dhoni and that’s why Dhoni still wants to give back to CSK,” Harsha concluded.
Dhoni is out of action from competitive cricket for almost 9 months now. He has last played for India in the World Cup 2019 semi-final against New Zealand.
