Chennai Super Kings captain M.S. Dhoni shares a light moment with Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya during the Tata IPL qualifier at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 23, 2023
| Photo Credit: Ragu R.
Chennai Super Kings skipper MS. Dhoni on Tuesday said he will take a call on his retirement in another 8 to 9 months as there is no rush to decide on the future. There have been speculations that 2023 could be a swansong season for Dhoni.
“I don’t know, I have 8-9 months to decide. Why take that headache now. I have ample time to decide. The auction is in December,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation after guiding CSK to their 10th IPL final.
“I will always come to CSK. I have been out of home from January, been practicing since March, so we will see.”
The four-time champions, who had finished at the ninth spot in 2022, dished out a commanding performance to outclass Gujarat Titans by 15 runs in Qualifier 1 to make it to the summit clash yet again.
“I think IPL is too big to say it is another final. It is 10 teams it is even tougher, it is hard work of more than 2 months, lots of characters, everybody has contributed, middle order didn’t get ample opportunity but very happy to be where we are.
“GT are a fantastic team and they’ve chased very well, so the thought was to get them in. But it was a good toss to lose. If Jaddu gets conditions that help him. he’s very difficult to hit. His bowling changed the game. Not to forget his partnership with Moeen.”
“I can be an annoying captain”
One of the best captains to have played the game, Dhoni said he can be an “annoying” skipper as he too often keeps changing his bowlers and fielders according to the match situation.
“You see the wicket, you see conditions, and you keep adjusting the field. I can be an annoying captain because I change the field every time.
“It can be annoying but I believe in my gut feel. That’s why I keep telling the fielders to keep an eye on me.”
On the number of fast bowlers coming out of CSK stable, Dhoni said: “We try to create an environment and work out what is the strength of a fast bowler. We try to give them confidence and tell them, ‘Please try to explore your bowling’.
“We try to motivate them as much as possible. Support staff is there, Bravo and Eric are there.”
We conceded 15 extra runs: Hardik Pandya
GT conceded 35 off the last 3 overs and skipper Hardik Pandya blamed the bowlers for giving away 15 runs extra by bowling “soft balls”.
“I think we were quite spot-on, but we made basic errors. The kind of bowlers we had, we conceded 15 extra runs,” he said.
“A lot of things, we did right. We bowled a couple of soft balls in between. We gave some runs. We don’t need to look much into it. We have one more game.
Asked if Dhoni made it look like a bigger total, Pandya said: “That’s the beauty about him (Dhoni), with his mind and the way he uses the bowlers, it feels like he’s adding 10 runs.
“We kept losing wickets, he kept changing the bowlers, credit to him. Would be nice to meet him on Sunday. We expected dew would come, it didn’t come. We didn’t do right in both the departments. We’ll give a crack again after two days.”