IPL 2020: Don’t Look At His Age – Irfan Pathan Warns Bowlers To Be Careful Against MS Dhoni
Sep 17, 2020 at 2:58 PM
Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has expressed that MS Dhoni will be more lethal in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 because he didn’t have the baggage of making comeback in the Indian team.
MS Dhoni retired from international cricket last month without a farewell match. The former Indian captain last played for India in the disheartening World Cup 2019 semi-final against New Zealand. Since then, he had made himself unavailable from international cricket and will be seen on the ground after over a year in this IPL season.
As all cricket fans are excited to see Dhoni in the IPL 2020, Irfan Pathan has warned the bowlers to watch out the veteran cricketer. The former allrounder, while talking to Times of India, opined that Dhoni would play fearlessly like he used to play before captaining India. This is so because he didn’t have the pressure to prove anyone, as per Irfan.
“All the bowlers, please watch out! Be careful when you are bowling against Mahendra Singh Dhoni. We might see the Dhoni that we saw before he became the (India) captain,” Irfan Pathan said.
MS Dhoni will be the player to watch out for this season: Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan added that MS Dhoni will play with a carefree mindset which would make him more dangerous. He believes bowlers will have to toil hard to get over the attacking batsman.
“Before he became the captain, he didn’t have that extra responsibility, so he used to play freely. As I say in Hindi, “Woh bebaak hoke khelega (he will play uninhibitedly)”. If that happens, the bowlers will lose control. So it’s very difficult for all the bowlers to get going against Dhoni,” he said.
Ifran Pathan said that bowlers should not take Dhoni’s age or his gap from cricket into consideration to mark him as uncompetitive. He believes that the Ranchi-born star will be more attacking than other seasons.
“Don’t look at his age, don’t look at that he hasn’t played cricket for so long. Don’t look at all those things. He will be the player to watch out for this season and I am pretty certain as well that we might see Dhoni bludgeoning the bowlers and playing freely, the way he used to before he became the captain. I totally expect that,” Irfan Pathan stated.
Meanwhile, CSK will play the IPL 2020 opener against Mumbai Indians on the 19th of September.