Here’s Why MS Dhoni Is Not Playing In Legends League Cricket Tournament 2023: The Legends League Cricket (LLC) 2023 tournament kick-started on Friday with Gautam Gambhir‘s India Maharajas defeating Shahid Afridi‘s Asia Lions. The third team in this competition is World Giants, captained by Aaron Finch.
The 3-team tournament is being played at the West End Park International Cricket Stadium.
The India Maharajas squad include some of the legendary names in Indian cricket – the likes of Gambhir, Yusuf and Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, and Praveen Kumar are in the squad. All of these players are retired from international cricket,
However, this has made the fans wonder why former India skipper and legendary player MS Dhoni is not playing in the Legends League Cricket tournament.
MS Dhoni had retired from international cricket and India duties in August 2015, and has played only IPL since then for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
MS Dhoni is not allowed to play in Legend League cricket tournament due to BCCI’s policy
Since MS Dhoni still plays in the IPL, which comes under the BCCI‘s purview, the 41-year-old is not allowed to participate in the Legends League Cricket tournament.
If you see the squad of the India Maharajas, all the players have also retired from the IPL and from domestic cricket in India.
MS Dhoni, though retired from international cricket and doesn’t play any domestic cricket, still features in the IPL, leading CSK. Because of the BCCI’s rule of not allowing its men’s players to play in any other league until they retire from all cricket under BCCI’s influence, MS Dhoni can not take part in the LLC.
MS Dhoni will be leading CSK in the upcoming IPL 2023
MS Dhoni and other Indian players have already started their training camp in Chennai, preparing for the IPL 2023, which CSK will kick-off against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.
The IPL 2023 is all but certain to be the last IPL season for MS Dhoni as a player. Dhoni will turn 42 soon after the IPL 2023 ends and it is unlikely that he will play until 2024.
CSK finished 9th in IPL 2022, where they saw a captaincy change. Before the start of the season, Dhoni had given the captaincy to Jadeja, but after 6 losses in 8 matches, Jadeja handed it back over to MS Dhoni.