The Universe Boss said Dhoni will most likely take a break midway through the tournament and that is why he handed over the CSK captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Former West Indies opener Chris Gayle believes the legendary MS Dhoni might not play every match of IPL 2024. The Universe Boss said Dhoni will most likely take a break midway through the tournament and that is exactly why he handed over the Chennai Super Kings captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad before the start of the season.
Chennai Super Kings’ MS Dhoni meets Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s skipper Faf du Plessis(RCB-X)
“He (MS Dhoni) might not play all games. There may be a little break in between for him. that’s why the decision. But MSD will go well, don’t worry about that,” Gayle said on Jio Cinema. Gayle’s comments came before the CSK vs RCB IPL 2024 opener in Chennai.
Dhoni has played only in the IPL since 2020. There was a lot of speculation about his retirement last year but the five-time IPL-winning captain battled through a knee injury and played the entire season and at the end of it, also promised to come back this year for the fans’ sake.
Dhoni has done that alright but not as captain. He has given Gaikwad the responsibility to take the franchise forward. But if there were any doubts about Dhoni’s fitness then they erased on Friday itself. Dhoni moved swiftly behind the stumps. He hardly made any mistakes and those long locks of his provided the perfect backdrop when ran out Anuj Rawat in the last ball of the RCB innings.
He anyway has decided to demote him to No.7 or 8 in the batting order so the chances of him playing out the entire season cannot be ruled out.
CSK keep stellar record against RCB intact
Mustafizur Rahman set it up with his bagful of cerebral variations before Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube got the job done with their superlative finishing skills to script a comfortable six-wicket win for CSK.
CSK, who have not lost to RCB at home since 2008, thus kept their enviable record intact.
Mustafizur, with his best ever IPL figures of 4/29 in four overs, was largely responsible for restricting RCB to 173 for six on a good batting track, where a 95-run sixth wicket stand off 50 balls between Anuj Rawat (48 off 25 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (38 not out off 26 balls) was the visitors’ only saving grace.
Jadeja (25 not out off 17 balls) brought his oodles of experience just when things could have got tricky in the run chase, hurrying a rusty Dube (34 off 28 balls) into completing some quick doubles to complete the chase in 18.4 overs. Dube also grew in confidence in Jadeja’s company towards the end as he finished the chase in a jiffy.
