While it may not be a favorable opinion for die-hard MS Dhoni fans, the reality which they must accept is to be prepared for the IPL 2023 to be the last season of their beloved Thala. MS Dhoni will turn 42 a month after the IPL 2023 concludes, and no amount of fitness would help him play the IPL in 2024 when he’ll be approaching the age of 43.
Anyway, he leaves a jaw-dropping legacy: MS Dhoni has taken Chennai Super Kings to 4 IPL trophies – only 1 less than Mumbai Indians, but it is not to forget that CSK played 2 seasons fewer than MI; 11 playoffs appearances in their 13 seasons.
The IPL 2023 is all but certain to be his last chance for another IPL glory
In what could well be the grandest farewell tournament from the grandest T20 league in the world, MS Dhoni might bring in some changes to his cricket and his captaincy and might look to experiment a bit more this season.
Here are 2 big chances fans could expect from MS Dhoni that would blow their minds:
Dhoni might move up in the batting order and bat more aggressively
This is one thing that fans have been yearning for the past three seasons. Since his retirement from international cricket, from IPL 2020, MS Dhoni has pushed himself very much down the order. Understandably, he might feel there were other batters more in tune of regular high-level cricket than him and promote them.
In IPL 2023, though, fans could see the old Dhoni back – the Dhoni who bats higher up in the order. Fans will also be wishing if Dhoni plays the aggressor’s role instead of the anchor role when promoting himself to number 3, 4, or 5.
The key reason for the possibility of Dhoni promoting himself up in the order could be because Robin Uthappa and Dwayne Bravo – two senior batters – have retired from the IPL. Also, Rahane, Rayudu, Gaikwad, Conway, and Ben Stokes – none of them are known to have quickfire stars to their innings in T20 cricket. So, fasten your seatbelts CSK fans, because not only MS Dhoni could come up in the batting order, but he might don the aggressor’s role from his younger days to bring momentum to CSK’s innings.
Dhoni could make more changes in the playing XI than usual
The USPs of the two most successful teams in the IPL – CSK and MI – have been the stability in their playing XI. Both the teams don’t make as many changes to their XI as the other franchises have done, and that’s one of the key factors of their success.
MS Dhoni, whether he captained India or CSK, refrained from making changes in the playing XI and believed in backing the players, win or loss. This could be a bit different this season and you may see MS Dhoni making changes in the XI this year more than he did in the previous years, whether CSK were winning or not.
The reason for this is that CSK will be back playing their home league matches – 7 matches – at the Chepauk. Now the Chepauk pitch assists the spinners a lot more than any other IPL venue. So, you’d be seeing more spinners play for CSK in their home matches in Chennai than the away games.
This certainly means that the likes of Santner, Solanki and Theekshana will be regularly playing in Chennai while they might be dropped when CSK are on the road as they have Moeen and Jadeja in the line-up already. The spin-friendly Chepauk surface could also lead to Dhoni picking more of Rahane in home matches and perhaps excluding him from away matches.
In a nutshell, expect more of chopping and changing in CSK’s XI from MS Dhoni this season than in the last 15 years.
CSK Players bought in IPL 2023 auction: Ben Stokes (16.25 cr), Kyle Jamieson (1 cr), Ajinkya Rahane (50 lakh), Shaik Rasheed (20 lakh), Nishant Sindhu (60 lakh), Ajay Mandal (20 lakh), Bhagath Varma (20 lakh)
Chennai Super Kings squad for IPL 2023:
- Openers: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed
- Middle order: Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati
- Wk: MS Dhoni
- All-rounders: Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Nishant Sindhu, Bhagath Varma
- Spinners: Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana
- Fast bowlers: Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kyle Jamieson (ruled out, no replacement announced yet)
