Dhoni keeps teasing fans and experts with cryptic answer on future when once again asked about his time at the IPL.
Dhoni keeps teasing fans after saying he hasn’t decided if IPL 2025 will be his last year playing cricket.
“I only play two months in a year and now after this IPL gets over, I have to work hard for another six to eight months just to see if my body will be able to take this kind of pressure and everything,” Dhoni said after helping Chennai Super Kings (CSK) win a thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). “So nothing for me to decide as of now, but I feel the love and affection wherever I’ve been.”
Dhoni has been playing at a lower level, and Stephen Fleming, the head coach of CSK, has stated that he is unable to bat for extended periods of time due to his knees. In their attempt to reach 180 on Wednesday, Dewald Brevis was removed, and Dhoni walked out in the 13th over. Before helping CSK cross the finish line with a vital six off Andre Russell in the final over, he played second fiddle to Shivam Dube.
Brevis and their newest addition, Urvil Patel, who made his IPL debut on Wednesday, set up the chase. Urvil, who had taken Shaik Rasheed’s place at the top, struck three more sixes in his 31 off 11 balls with a strike rate of 281.81 after hitting the second ball he faced for six. After that, Brevis took control and hammered a half-century off 22 balls, including a 6,4,4,6,6,4 sequence against seamer Vaibhav Arora.
Real-time match situations, according to Dhoni, are the best way to assess children’s abilities and dispositions.
“The thing is these are the players who are part of us right now… so we have got an opportunity to test them,” Dhoni said. “You may see them in the nets, you may see them in the practice game, but nothing like a real match, you know, so we are out of the tournament.
“We had three games [remaining], so you give them a chance and see how they react. It’s not the technical aspect…What we want to see is the approach and the mental toughness because that’s what really counts. It’s not the most technically sound batsman who scores a lot of runs, but somebody who’s more game aware. You know who understands what the bowler is looking to do, if he sets up a field, okay according to this field you know what he will bowl. What is a bluff ball? You know nowadays it’s big.”