Former Indian World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev made a stunning statement on Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni’s retirement talks. It is widely speculated that the former Indian skipper might hang his boots after the completion of IPL 2023.
Though, the CSK skipper has not announced anything officially about his retirement plans many believe that this may be his last season as a player in CSK colours. The former Indian skipper has been playing his 16th edition of the IPL and has been a part of all seasons of the IPL since its inception in 2008.
Speaking on ABP News, Former Indian Cricketer Kapil Dev questioned why MS Dhoni’s retirement talks a looming around since the start of IPL 2023 and reckons that the Indian legend has done exceptional work for the country in the last 15 years and feels that fans should be grateful that he has played the game for this long years and said that the CSK skipper had a huge impact on the team despite not scoring many runs for the team.
“He has been playing IPL for 15 years. Why is it that we are only talking about Dhoni? He has done his work. What more do we want from him? Do we want him to play all his life? That is not going to happen. We should instead be thankful that he played for 15 years,” he added.
“Whether he plays next year or not, before departing he has played impressively. He may not have scored big runs but he led the team to the final and it shows what is the importance of a skipper in the game of cricket,” Kapil Dev said.
The former India skipper retired from international cricket in 2020 and does not play domestic cricket at all. Since retiring from the international arena, he has only played in the IPL as far as competitive cricket is concerned.
It will be interesting to see whether MS Dhoni continues playing, as the CSK skipper admitted that he is “in the last phase of his career” and thanked the fans for coming in large numbers to support him throughout the country.
MS Dhoni had a history of making sudden retirement calls and the fans shouldn’t be surprised if he calls time on his IPL career. Chennai Super Kings had a tough run last year as they failed to make the playoffs for only the second time in their glorious history and they have revamped themselves in this edition of the IPL 2023.
Chennai Super Kings will take on defending champions Gujarat Titans in the grand final on the reserve day at the famous Narendra Modi Stadium.