Irfan Pathan Confident About MS Dhoni Playing IPL 2024 Due To This Reason

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni‘s bountiful fans have already started expressing concerns about whether he has played his last Indian Premier League knock at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Dhoni, who shares an unrivaled bond both with this franchise and their home ground, won’t be playing another match here this season irrespective of where they win or lose the ongoing IPL 2023 Qualifier 1.

Promoting himself in the batting order above all-rounder Moeen Ali (9*), Dhoni batted at No. 7 against Gujarat Titans tonight. Dismissed after scoring a solitary run on the second ball that he faced, Dhoni couldn’t hit those impact-generating sixes which he has hit several times in the season.

That being said, a failure didn’t stop the flow of social media reactions around the 41-year old player. Knowing the uncertainty around Dhoni’s participation in the 17th season of the IPL next year, all these queries about his future in the biggest T20 league in the world aren’t surprising by any means.

Irfan Pathan Confident About MS Dhoni Playing IPL 2024

If truth be told, not only Dhoni’s fans but former teammates also tweeted about the matter. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan expressed hopes of Dhoni returning to the IPL next year. A primary reason behind Pathan’s assumption was the Impact Player rule.

“With impact player rule hopefully this isn’t Dhoni’s last inning at the Chepauk…,” Pathan, who is working as a commentator for host broadcaster Star Sports Network, tweeted after the culmination of Chennai’s innings on Tuesday.

With impact player rule hopefully this isn’t Dhoni’s last inning at the Chepauk…

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) May 23, 2023

Although Dhoni didn’t substitute himself under the new rule this season, he could well make use of the same next season. What Pathan meant to say was that Dhoni could continue to lead and keep wickets with Super Kings bringing in a specialist batter in Dhoni’s place in their batting innings. The same could be done both occasionally or regularly depending on Dhoni’s form and the status of his knee injury in 2024.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Read More