File photo of MS Dhoni© BCCI/Sportzpics
As the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024 season begins, the chatter around MS Dhoni‘s future in the league would intensify once again. It’s been the same case over the last couple of seasons, and as Dhoni continues to lead the Chennai Super Kings this year, there would be those wondering if he plans to quit at the end of the campaign. Not just the fans, but the franchise also needs to prepare itself for life beyond Dhoni, and CEO Kasi Viswanathan admitted that there have been ‘internal talks’ on the subject.
A couple of seasons ago, the Super Kings did try giving Ravindra Jadeja the team’s baton but the all-rounder couldn’t live up to the expectations, prompting the franchise to make a mid-season u-turn. CSK don’t want to take such drastic decisions in haste again.
“See, there have been internal talks. But, Mr. Srinivasan has made it very clear. Let’s not talk about captain and vice-captain appointments. Let’s leave it to the coach and the captain to decide. Let them decide and convey the information to me, and then I will convey it to you all. He has said that ‘the captain and the coach will decide and give us a directive, till then let’s all keep quiet’,” CSK CEO Viswanathan told S Badrinath in the latter’s YouTube show.
As the new season begins, CSK will emerge among the favourites once again. But, Viswanathan said that it’s about focussing on the league stage of the campaign first.
“We have always focused on qualifying for the knockouts. That’s our first aim. After that, it depends on the performance on that day. We are following that even now. Before every season, MS Dhoni tells us ‘first let us concentrate on league games. We will look to qualify for the knockouts’. Yes, the pressure is there. But over the years, because of our consistency, most of the players are used to this pressure,” he added.
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