MS Dhoni's impact on Indian cricket, CSK and IPL cannot be overstated and when he walks out during the 16th season of the league, it might as well be the last time we see him as a player. Now, veteran Australian player Matthew Hayden, while speaking to Star Sports, said that this year's IPL will be the close of his journey.
"It will be an amazing moment. I think last year, we were all under the impression that will MSD come back again. At the close of the IPL season, he made that huge comment to say that he will be back. Now, what that means for all that Yellow Army is that Chennai suddenly galvanized a tad around the superior leader, who has done it for so long. This will, most certainly, I think, be the close of his IPL career. So, those few games at the start are not only going to be key for the fans, his performance is going to be key for CSK this season," said Hayden.
Sanjay Manjrekar. former India batter, also agreed with Matthew Hayden's take that Dhoni will be the key for Chennai Super Kings this season.
"Look, having watched T20 cricket over the years, especially with the IPL and the kind of pressures that teams feel, I believe that you can have one player in your team on pure leadership. MS Dhoni doesn't play regularly, so his impact with the bat is not going to be as much as it was in his prime, but somebody like MS Dhoni, with his leadership experience, you can have him in the team, to make a difference with his leadership. And this is a guy who's had a team that was called the 'Old Men Playing IPL Together' and they won that particular season," said Manjrekar.
MS Dhoni handed the captaincy reigns to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022 only for Jadeja to step down and hand it back to MS Dhoni after a few matches. The next IPL season is all set to start on March 31, with Chennai Super Kings taking on the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.
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