There was significant fan-fare surrounding the return of former Indian captain MS Dhoni to cricket ahead of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Chennai Super Kings were set to take on Mumbai Indians in the curtain-raiser of the IPL on March 29. However, the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus led to the suspension of the tournament till April 15, and a cancellation is looking increasingly likely with each passing day.
Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle, in a podcast for Cricbuzz, talked about Dhoni's future if the IPL gets cancelled this year.
Bhogle said that Dhoni's chances of making a comeback in the Indian team 'might be over', now that the IPL is unlikely to be played.
"My gut feel is that his (Dhoni’s) India ambitions might be over. I don’t think Dhoni would have been looking up to September-October for the T20 World Cup., Maybe if he just had a great IPL.. (he would've eyed a place back in the Indian team) but my gut feel is that was beyond him," said Bhogle.
However, Bhogle insisted that Dhoni's hunger to turn out for Chennai Super Kings remains unparalleled.
“I still do believe, though, so that Dhoni wanted to desperately turnout for CSK. The reason I think so? Last year, towards the end of the leagues tage, I got the opportunity to do a couple of presentations. And then there was Dhoni and he wasn't holding back. The presentations with him generally last 3-4 minutes, this one went on for 8-9 minutes, almost!
“I asked him what it feels to be called Thalaiva by the CSK fans and what it meant to someone who was always associated to Ranchi to get this love from Chennai. For the first time I saw a little bit of softness behind this facade.
"He talked about the great honour of being given this title, he said that when people give you that title how much they love and he said there is a lot of gratitude. I thought there was this slightly softer side of Dhoni and that’s why Dhoni still wants to give back to CSK,” concluded Bhogle.
