Dhoni : “My Bond with Chennai began long before Chennai Super Kings”

Good News for all Dhoni Fans, especially for CSK fans! Dhoni will play IPL 2022, and maybe thereafter too. At least that’s what he indicated at the felicitation ceremony organized by India cements for CSK.

 

After IPL 2021 win over KKR in Final, Dhoni was asked whether he will continue his association with Chennai as a player. MS, who always has put team first, had said it entirely depends upon the needs of the franchise. And also, the retention policy. However, today, N Srinivasan has hinted that Dhoni will play for Chennai as long as he is fit and fresh.

“I have always planned my cricket,” Dhoni said at an event hosted by the Super Kings. “The last ODI that I played in India was in Ranchi. Hopefully my last T20 will be in Chennai. Whether it’s next year or in five years’ time, I don’t know.”

 

“The association started in 2008 when it comes to IPL, but it started before that when it came to play some of the other formats,” Dhoni said. “One of the most memorable being my Test debut, you know, which happened is in Chennai. I think I never knew that I’ll be picked by CSK, I was in the auction and I got picked and it gave me an opportunity to understand the culture, which was very different from where I actually came from.

 

“And what made it even more different was I’m like a wanderer. My parents came from Uttar Pradesh. It was initially UP, then it became Uttarakhand. I was born in Ranchi which was Bihar. Then later on became Jharkhand. I got my job at the age of 18, with railways in West Bengal, you know, Kharagpur and then I came to Chennai and I believe Chennai taught me a lot. Tamil Nadu taught me a lot when it came to how to conduct myself, how to appreciate the game. Each and every game that we played at Chepauk the fans came and supported good cricket.”

IPL 2020 was interesting, in Dhoni’s words. That was the first edition when CSK failed to make it to the qualifiers. However, CSK came into the IPL 2021 with nearly the same squad and backing the same players to deliver. Much like Dhoni’s formula for years. And guess what? It worked. It worked very well. CSK won 9 out of their 14 league matches, finished 2nd on the points table and ultimately defeated KKR in the final to be crowned as the champions for the fourth time.

 

“We had a very good run when it came to franchise cricket but it became interesting in 2020. That was the first season where we didn’t qualify to the next stage of IPL. It gave us a chance to test the real character of the franchise, because when the going is good, you always keep talking about what you do, what is the process that you follow, but it gave us an opportunity to earn the respect of the players and the fans, you know, because we said we believe in the process, we don’t believe in the result.

 

“And the result definitely didn’t go in our favour in 2020 and I feel we earned the respect of the men because they said this is what they do. They walk the talk and that’s one of the main reasons why I believe we could come back strongly and we were able to win that title.”

Dhoni has been constantly asked about his future with CSK for the last two editions. Kinda bugging him. Dhoni, cool as ever, has never shown any sign of impatience while answering such questions. This time, N Srinivasan, the boss of CSK, stepped up to defend Dhoni.