The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League is set to start in less than a month’s time. This year’s edition is a special one because, for the first time in four years, the tournament will be played in its original home-and-away format. All 10 teams have started their preparations for the world’s most popular franchise cricket league. A few days ago, former Indian skipper and legendary wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni landed in Chennai to kickstart his preparations for the upcoming edition of the IPL.
The 2023 edition of the IPL is likely to be the last one for Dhoni. The 41-year-old cricketer has featured in all 15 editions of the IPL to date and has won the title on four occasions as CSK captain. Last year, he stepped down from the role of captain ahead of the start of the IPL but later reassumed the responsibility when Ravindra Jadeja left the role to focus on his batting and bowling.
In IPL 2023, he is again likely to lead the side. In the last three editions, Dhoni has failed to fire with the bat for the Chennai-based side, and the impact of it was seen in the team’s final rankings as well. The four-time champions twice finished at the second-to-last position in the points table.
Dhoni is important for CSK as a batter as well, and so to make himself more valuable to the team’s cause, the right-handed batter has started his batting preparations. In the videos that are going viral on social media platforms, Dhoni can be seen batting at the CSK nets and playing some big hits by travelling down the ground, exactly like the way he used to do during his early days in international cricket.
When Dhoni first burst onto the scene, he was famous for hitting big sixes at will and changing the complexion of the game in a matter of a few balls. But with time, he changed his game and focused more on rotating the strike and building up the innings rather than playing rash shots every now and then.
