MS Dhoni (L) and Suresh Raina© Twitter
The rumours surrounding MS Dhoni‘s retirement from Indian Premier League (IPL) has been doing the rounds for quite some time now. Dhoni, who will leading Chennai Super Kings once again in 2023, had hinted towards retirement on several occasions but no concrete announcement was made at any point. Dhoni has already started training for the new season and the fans will be able to see him play at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai once again. Former CSK star batsman Suresh Raina weighed in on Dhoni’s retirement and said that he believes that the ex-India skipper may ended up playing in the tournament next year.
“I wish he could, but we’ll have to see what his commitments are,” Raina said at the LLC Masters. “He can play the IPL next year as well, you never know.”
“He’s been batting well and looking fit, it depends on how the performance is this year. It may be a little challenging since him and (Ambati) Rayudu haven’t played the tournament since one year. I think the team is quite strong, a lot of young players are coming through the ranks. (Ruturaj) Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja), (Ben) Stokes, Deepak Chahar…and there are more young and dynamic players in that side. Let’s see how they play,” he added.
Several cricketers have alleged that Dhoni is not generally available on the phone but Raina said that they stay in touch and even praises his ex-skipper for the commitment he shows in practice.
“He picks, we stay in touch (laughs). Haa…jamke practice kar rahe hai (yes, he’s been practicing really hard), you must have seen the videos of him (on CSK social media handles). The way he is playing the big shots (in the nets). I hope he does well and makes them win.”
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