With a complete lockdown in the country due to the growth of coronavirus pandemic, there are speculations that the 13th season of Indian Premier League, which was originally scheduled to begin March 30, but was pushed to April 15th, can get cancelled. MS Dhoni, who was away from cricket since India’s exit from the World Cup last year, was set to make a return at IPL for Chennai Super Kings, in a bid to push for his claim in India’s T20 World Cup squad. But now with IPL on the verge of being called off, there are speculations Dhoni might find it hard to make a return to the Indian team. Commentator Harsha Bhogle believes the same.
Speaking to Cricbuzz podcast, Bhogle said: “My gut feel is that his (Dhoni’s) India ambitions might be over. I don’t think Dhoni would have been looking to September-October for the T20 World Cup. Maybe if he just had a great IPL but my gut feel is that was beyond him.”
Bhogle further added that even though Dhoni might not make it to the Indian team, he still may want to contribute for his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.
“I still do believe so that Dhoni desperately turnout for CSK. The reason I think so. Last year towards towards the end of the IPL, towards the end of the league stage I got an opportunity f doing a couple of post match presentations and there was Dhoni and he wasn’t holding back at the presentations which were normally three four minutes but this one seven to nine minutes almost and when Dhoni is in that talkative mode we don’t stop him,” he said.
“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 and for the first time I saw a little bit of softeness behind this facade that tells you nothing,” he further added.
“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 feel so greatly when I am among these fans. I thought there was this slightly softer side of Dhoni and that’s why Dhoni still wants to give back to CSK,” he signed off.
