You cannot blame Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for missing their favourite son in action during what would have been the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Had COVID-19 not wreaked havoc, the cash-rich T20 league would have been in full swing and all eyes would have been trained on Mahendra Singh Dhoni, returning to cricket after a sabbatical.
Dhoni, CSK's decorated captain who led India to 2007 T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup triumph besides shepherding the Yellow Brigade to three IPL crowns, has not played competitive cricket since India's 2019 World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand.
The 38-year old was supposed to make a much-awaited comeback in the IPL and had also attended CSK's camp before the deadly virus forced sport across the world to come to a grinding halt.
CSK, on Tuesday, shared a video where Dhoni is seen spending time with daughter Ziva and his dog at his lawn in Ranchi with his back towards the camera.
"#Thala @msdhoni's back...quite literally so! Smiling face with smiling eyes #WhistlePodu," CSK captioned the tweet, crediting Dhoni's wife Sakshi for capturing the video.
The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman is also seen giving the dog some catches with the ball with Ziva for company.
Meanwhile, dashing England wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler has said that Dhoni has always been a big idol and while playing in the IPL one lesson for him has been how the former India skipper manages all the fanfare and still performs in crunch situations.
"MS Dhoni has always been a big idol of mine and chaos is always going around him, people wanting a bit of him, the cricket and the noise.
"....it is such a great lesson to just watch him and see first hand how to manage all that thing if you have to perform at the top level and perform in those crunch moment, that certainly has been one of the massive pluses," Buttler said in an interview to Lancashire Cricket with Warren Hegg.
