He may have called time on his international cricket career in 2020, but MS Dhoni’s popularity hasn’t gone down one bit.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers produced by India, Dhoni continues to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Earlier this year, he led CSK to a record-equalling fifth IPL title.
Now, Legends League Cricket (LLC) CEO Raman Raheja has hinted at Dhoni's participation in the tournament, which has already seen the participation of several retired stars.
The 2023 edition of LLC is currently taking place in India. On Thursday (November 23), Dhoni’s hometown Ranchi hosted the last of its five assigned matches.
During the thrilling encounter between Urbanisers Hyderabad and India Capitals, Raheja shared some pictures with Dhoni on X and wrote: “Good start is half the battle won. We @llct20 came to Ranchi on a mission. Not just won hearts of thousands of fans but met the “Legend” in his town. Just Honoured!! It’s time to scale up and move ahead. #LegendsLeagueCricket #msdhoni.”
Speaking to Hindustan Times earlier this year, Raman Raheja had said that he would want Dhoni to be part of the league in the near future. He had also taken Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s names in his statement.
"My future plan is to position this as a second innings for players. And I would love to have MS Dhoni come and play sometime. Or may, all we know, five years later we have a Kohli vs Rohit take place," Raheja had said.
According to the BCCI regulations, any Indian cricketer who has not announced formal retirement from all forms of the game — domestic and international — isn’t eligible to take part in any other league that competes with the Indian Premier League.
Back in 2019, Yuvraj Singh called time on his international cricket career and then featured in the Global Canada T20 League and Abu Dhabi T10 League for Toronto Nationals and Maratha Arabians respectively.
Among the retired Indian cricketers, Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha have participated in Legends League Cricket. With Dhoni still committed to IPL, he remains ineligible to play in LLC.
