MS Dhoni in no mood to retire

Bipin Dani | May 31, 2023

“From this moment onwards, consider me retired”, MS Dhoni had said when he retired from international cricket in 2020. Fans were anticipating that the legendary cricketer would repeat these words while holding the IPL trophy as captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Monday night. But Dhoni, true to form, did the unexpected! 

He didn’t announce his retirement from IPL, instead, he expressed a desire to play in the next season too. 

Instead of opting to give a fairy-tale ending to his career after leading the CSK to lift the coveted IPL trophy for the fifth time, he vowed to return for ‘at least’ one more season for the sake of his fans, though he added the proviso that it was subject to his body ‘allowing’ it.

Though he acknowledged that this would be the best time (after winning the tournament) to announce his retirement, he also wanted to ‘gift’ his fans another season even if it was ‘tough’ to work on his body for another nine months so that he could play again.

Dhoni will be 42 next month. 

MSD could indeed have bowed out on a high note. A lesser mortal would have had no second thoughts in doing so, believes Pune-based Business Consultant Sayan Sengupta, who was associated with the MS Dhoni Cricket Academy in 2020 and has seen the passion and professionalism of the team there in pursuit of the goal for grassroots cricket development.  

“It is unlikely that in the coming days MSD will be anywhere close to the batter that he once was. However, looking at the stumping of Gill in the finals and the leg side catch that he took to dismiss SKY (Surya Kumar Yadav) in one of the league games, the natural wicket keeper in him is still at his imperious best”, says Sengupta.

“Finally, given the enigma that he has been, the only thing that can be predicted is his unpredictability,” he adds. “Think of the decision at Australia for (retiring from) Tests and later the retirement announcement with ‘Pal do Pal’ – the maestro’s can of surprises never seems to end.” (‘Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon. Pal do pal meri kahani hai’ - Captain Cool used this emotional song to say a poetic adios to international cricket in 2020).

“Who knows, there might be another podium finish! Will the grand old leader of the pack hand the trophy over to his teammates and walk into the background in the coming year?” muses Sengupta.

Former India cricketer ... also feels Monday would have been an ideal day for Dhoni to announce his retirement from IPL. “But as he has got 7 to 8 months to see how his body is taking the workload, he can take a call on whether to play or not later. He must be having too much pressure from the franchise as well to continue, and above all, millions of fans want him to continue,” notes Rajput, who has coached the Indian players, the IPL team and also the Afghanistan and Zimbabwe teams. 

“Dhoni is a good decision maker. He must have decided to extend his IPL career after careful thought,” says his childhood coach Kajal Das. “I would have loved to see him retiring after winning the IPL on Monday. Maybe he has confidence in himself and therefore has not announced his retirement,” he adds.