IPL 2024: Chennai Super Kings former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has batted majorly in the final two overs for the franchise in the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Even on Sunday, when the Yellow Army lost their sixth wicket for 122 runs in the 16th over of their inning against the Punjab Kings, fans expected Dhoni to come out to bat but instead of MS, Shardul Thakur walked to the crease. Dhoni, on the other hand, decided to hold himself back and stayed in the dugout.
The decision to let Shardul bat ahead of Dhoni surprised the Cricket experts. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan felt that MSD wasn’t helping CSK by batting at number nine. Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh even went on to suggest that the five-time IPL winners should make an extra batter play if Dhoni continues to bat in the lower order.
According to a news report in Times of India, Dhoni coming out to bat in the final overs of CSK’s batting inning is not any strategy but a compulsion for the former Chennai skipper. The Chennai-based franchise officials have revealed that the 42-year-old is playing with a muscle tear in his leg which is not allowing him to run for a long time.
The muscle tear in his leg reportedly occurred during the initial stages of IPL 2024 and with CSK’s Devon Conway ruled out of the current edition of the T20 league due to an injury he suffered against Australia, the Super Kings management have decided to let MS Dhoni play with the muscle tear. Due to this, the 42-year-old has been taking a lot of medications, playing through a considerable amount of pain and has been asked to not run a lot between the wickets.
This is the second consecutive season where Dhoni has continued to play in the IPL despite suffering an injury. In the previous edition of the Indian Premier League, he suffered a knee injury that required surgery during the off-season. While he has recovered completely from the knee injury, the muscle tear is a bothering one and it’s hurting his ability to run between the wickets.
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