Four-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winning skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, at present, is leading Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in world’s richest T20 tournament. Despite his struggles with a knee injury, Dhoni has featured in all 13 matches for CSK this season and will take the field one more time against Delhi Capitals (DC) on Saturday (May 20). Ever since the tournament started, Dhoni has been dropping hints about IPL 2023 being his last season in the tournament as a player. A few days ago, another CSK legend Suresh Raina, who is also MS Dhoni’s close friend, revealed that the veteran CSK skipper is expected to play one more IPL season. CSK head coach Stephen Fleming had also said a few days ago that he wasn’t aware of Dhoni hanging his boots at the end of this season.
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Meanwhile, ex-CSK legend Robin Uthappa has come up with a big update on Dhoni’s future in IPL. As per Uthappa, Dhoni could still play in the IPL for a couple of more seasons. He said that the only thing that might force Dhoni to retire from IPL is his knee injury.
“When you say life after MS, I would like to say that I don’t think there will be a CSK without an MS. I think MS will always be a part of CSK in one form or another. Having said that, will this be his last season if he wins? Well, I think the onset of the impact player rule changes the ball game completely because his passion for the game has not dwindled. His love for the game has not dwindled. In fact, he still finds it really exciting,” Uthapaa was quoted as saying by CricketNext.
“He’s like, ‘If my knee was fine with this impact player rule, I could play for another two, three, four, or five years, man. And you never know as long as I’m fit.”
“He’s got a very unusual, rather overused injury. So, there’s really nothing you can do about it as far as treating it is concerned while he’s playing at the Lid On moment. If it’s something that he can address, I’m certain that we will see him come back again. If it’s not addressable, it probably will be his last season. But if it is addressable, I certainly think that he will come back and play for one, maybe more,” he added.
