Chennai Super Kings’ hopes of qualifying for the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) play-offs were dashed on Thursday when the side suffered a five-wicket loss to the Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium. As lead batter, CSK was eliminated for 97 when Daniel Sams returned with three wickets. Skipper MS Dhoni was the lone ranger for CSK as he played an unbeaten knockout of 36, but he didn’t get the support he wanted from the other side and ran out of partners. After the match, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that Dhoni still wants to do well for the franchise and so he expects to play next season as well.
“Well, I mean, look at the way he’s played. He’s clearly showing that he’s excited, still excited about the game. In the field, what’s most telling is sometimes when you get to 8-9 and you look to give up the game, but here he ran between the overs, he ran from one end to the other, and it shows that he was eager to do the next one,” said Gavaskar after the game on Star Sports.
“He felt an opportunity with those 2-3 early wickets, but we’ve seen him do that regularly, which means ‘absolutely not’. That’s what Dhoni had said when Danny asked him about it (in 2020),” he added.
During CSK’s final league game in 2020, commentator Danny Morrison had asked Dhoni if that game would be his last in yellow. To that question, Dhoni had replied, “Absolutely not.”
Before the start of IPL 2022, Dhoni had stepped down as CSK skipper and Jadeja was given the reins of the team. However, after eight games into the season, the captaincy was returned to Dhoni as Jadeja wanted to focus on his own game.
promoted
Before the match against SunRisers Hyderabad, Dhoni was once again asked about his future, to which he had replied: “Well, I said last time too, you will definitely see me in the yellow jersey. Whether it’s this yellow jersey or something otherwise, you’ll have to wait and watch.”
CSK is currently in ninth place in the IPL points table with 8 points from 12 games.
Topics mentioned in this article
