The CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Kasi Viswanathan is "very, very hopeful" of MS Dhoni's return to the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League.
When Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) beat CSK by 27 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on May 18 to eliminate them from the competition a lot of fans started speculating that Dhoni might have played his last IPL game.
However, Viswanathan expects Dhoni to return next season and revealed that the CSK team management had left the decision to the five-time IPL-winning captain.
"I do not know," Viswanathan answered in response to MS Dhoni's IPL future on CSK's YouTube channel. "It is a question which only MS can answer. The question for us, we have always respected the decisions taken by MS, we have left it to him.
"As all of you know, he has always taken his decisions and announced it at the appropriate time. We do expect that we will get a decision as and when he decides. But we are very, very hopeful that he will be available for CSK the next year. That is the view and expectations of the fans and mine," he added.
Dhoni, 42, will turn 43 before the next edition of the cash-rich league. However, he justified his position in CSK's playing XI this year by his agility on the field and power-hitting. Therefore, CSK would highly likely retain Dhoni if he makes himself available for the next season.
Viswanathan also revealed that he doesn't expect CSK's head coach Stephen Fleming to apply for the head coach position of the Indian men's cricket team.
"I jokingly asked Stephen, 'have you applied to the Indian coaching assignment? Stephen just laughed and said: 'Do you want me to?'," Viswanathan said. "I know that it's not going to be his cup of tea because he doesn't like to be involved [in coaching] for nine-ten months in a year. That's my feeling. I have not discussed anything more on him."
