MS Dhoni is back in Chennai and the fans across the city cannot be happier. The players of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have started to gather in the capital city of Tamil Nadu and have started gearing up for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. The season opener will witness defending champions Gujarat Titans squaring off against 4-time champions CSK and ahead of the mouth-watering contest, Dhoni and his boys have started sweating it out in the nets at Chepauk.
The promotions of the new season are also going in full swing while Dhoni could be seen endorsing the digital broadcasters. But is it going to be the last IPL season for the CSK skipper? Well, this is something which this cricket-crazy nation wants to know and a recent statement from fast bowler Deepak Chahar has added more spice to it.
During an interaction with News India Sports, Chahar was asked, “MS Dhoni will play in his last IPL. You saw him practice. How is his batting going on?”
Chahar’s reply has indeed come as an update on Dhoni’s CSK future but it has left the fans and media personnel a little confused.
“No one has said that this would be his final year. At least, he hasn’t. Hopefully, he will play more. We don’t know any such thing, we want him to play as much as he can,” Chahar replied.
“He knows when to retire, we saw it when he did in Tests and international cricket. No one else knows. I just hope he continues to play, it’s a privilege to play under him. It has been a dream to play with him. He’s in good touch as well, you will see that when he bats in the IPL this year,” Chahar further said.
The air around Dhoni’s IPL retirement
Ever since the former Indian captain drew curtains on his international career, fans and experts are keen to know about his IPL future. ‘Definitely not’ was his sensational reply when broadcaster Harsha Bhogle asked him in 2020 if that would be his last season. The next year, he once again led the CSK to a title win but the unit slumped again in 2022 when the league became a 10-team affair.
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In fact last year, Dhoni cleared that he would return in 2023 to personally convey his gratitude to fans across India, as the tournament will be played across 12 different cities.
“It’s a simple reason: it will be unfair to not play in Chennai and say thank you [to the fans]. Mumbai is one place where, as a team and as an individual, I have got a lot of love and affection. But it wouldn’t be nice for the CSK fans.
“And also, hopefully, next year there will be an opportunity where the teams will be travelling so it will be a like thank you to all the different places where we will be playing games at different venues. Whether it will be my last year or not that’s a big question, because you know we can’t really predict about something two years down the line. But definitely, I’ll be working hard to come back strong next year,” he had added.
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