CSK Captain MS Dhoni expected to be fit to play in the Tata IPL 2024: With the conclusion to the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Auction, the stage is all groomed up to host all 10 IPL teams in the next few months. The buzz around the league has already picked its pace and with time it will get bigger and bigger. Among all the queries floating on the internet related to the IPL, the biggest is whether CSK captain MS Dhoni will play IPL 2024 or not.
This very question was raised ahead of the Tata IPL 2023 as well, which saw Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lift their record fifth IPL title in Ahmedabad. Many thought that the CSK stalwart – MS Dhoni – would wave his hand for the last time during the IPL 2023 final, but the “Thala” had some other plans.
When directly asked about his retirement plans during the post-match conference after the Tata IPL 2023 final, Dhoni had said that his appearance in the next IPL would totally depend on how his body reacts.
“If you see circumstantially this is the best time for me to announce retirement. But the amount of love and affection I’ve been shown wherever I’ve been this year, the easy thing for me would be to say, ‘Thank you very much’. But the tough thing for me is to work hard for another nine months and come back and play at least one more season of IPL. But a lot depends on the body, I have six-seven months to decide and it will be more like a gift from my side [to the fans],” said MS Dhoni after guiding CSK to the fifth IPL title in 2023.
However, now with the IPL just three months away, the same query has erupted again among the netizens, who directly got a response from the CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan.
After the completion of the IPL 2024 Auction, Kasi Vishwanathan informed that the captain is doing fine and is undergoing a rehab programme. He further revealed that the wicketkeeper batter would start training in the nets in another 10 days.
“He is doing well now. He has started his rehab. He started working in the gym. And, probably in another 10 days, he’ll start working in the nets also,” said CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan as quoted by the Indian Express.
When further enquired about MS Dhoni’s retirement plans, CSK CEO made it clear that the wicketkeeper batter doesn’t inform anybody of his future plans.
“That I do not know [about retirement plans]. See, as far as the captain [MS Dhoni] is concerned, he will answer you directly. He does not tell us what he is going to do,” asserted CSK CEO.
CSK’s performance in the IPL 2024 Auction has been exceptional. The decorated franchise managed to steal the likes of Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Shardul Thakur, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman and Avinash Rao during the auction at decent prices.
The overall composition of the CSK squad for the IPL 2024 has been bolstered with the addition of the aforementioned players. It remains to be seen how the team performs with new players under the hood.
Below is CSK’s complete squad for the IPL 2024:
Ajay Mandal, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Mitchell Santner*, Moeen Ali*, MS Dhoni, Matheesha Pathirana*, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Choudhary, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shaik Rasheed, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell*, Sameer Rizvi, Rachin Ravindra*, Mustafizur Rahman* and Avanish Rao Aravelly.
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For more details head to ICC’s official website.