Contrary to popular beliefs and assumptions, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hasn’t retired from the Indian Premier League in spite of guiding his team to a sixth title in Ahmedabad tonight. Having retired from international cricket more than 33 months ago, Dhoni confirmed in his speech during the post-match presentation ceremony that he wants to take the “tough” road of returning for another season.
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That being said, the 41-year old player was honest enough to add a disclaimer with respect to his “body”. For the unversed, Dhoni has pretty much played the whole of IPL 2023 with a knee injury. With the auction for the 17th season of the IPL still a minimum of six months away from now, Dhoni has a lot of time to plan the road map especially with respect to his fitness.
MS Dhoni Speech Today
Dhoni, who forms for an unrivaled communicator during these post-match presentation ceremonies, was an absolute joy to hear whilst speaking to legendary broadcaster Harsha Bhogle for host broadcaster Star Sports Network at the Narendra Modi Stadium tonight.
Acknowledging the amount of love showered upon him by fans across cities throughout the season, Dhoni highlighted how he “needs to do this for fans” as a return gift. In doing so, Dhoni has fulfilled former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews‘ wish.
“This is the best time for me to announce the retirement. But the amount of love and affection that I’ve been shown wherever I’ve been this year, I think the easy thing for me to say would be ‘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 the IPL. [But] A lot depends on the body. I have six-seven months to decide. It will be more like a gift from my side. It’s not easy for me but the way they [fans] have shown love and affection, that’s something I need to do for them.”
MS Dhoni With IPL Trophy
Dhoni, who has a knack of winning hearts with his gestures, won millions of hearts whilst receiving the trophy from BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) president Roger Binny and secretary Jay Shah.
Dhoni, who hardly touched the trophy, let teammates Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja take centrestage when it mattered the most. Having announced his retirement an hour before the originally scheduled date of IPL 2023 final, Rayudu played a game-changing innings scoring 19 (8) comprising a four and a couple of sixes in a tense situation on Tuesday.
Jadeja, meanwhile, hit the winning runs in some style. With Chennai requiring 10 runs off just two balls to chase down a 171-run target in 15 overs, the southpaw hit a six and a four off GT pacer Mohit Sharma to turn the tables on his own.
