Mahendra Singh Dhoni isn’t very sure as to whether he will be playing for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2022.
After the toss for the Super Kings’ final game of the league phase of this IPL, versus Punjab Kings in Dubai on Thursday, Dhoni was asked whether he would be staying with the franchise, which is synonymous with him, as he has been representing it since the IPL’s inception.
“Well, you can see me in yellow next year. But will I be playing for CSK? Well, there are a lot of uncertainties around it for a simple reason that we have two new teams coming up,” the Super Kings captain said, referring to the IPL’s expansion into a 10-team competition from next season.
“We don’t know the retention policy. We don’t know how many foreigners and Indian players we can retain, and also the money cap that every player will be cutting from the kitty. So there are a lot of uncertainties.
“Unless the rules are in place, you can’t really decide upon that. So we will wait for it to happen and hopefully, it will be good for everyone,” Dhoni added.
Faf du Plessis takes a catch to dismiss Punjab Kings’ Sarfaraz Khan in Dubai on Thursday. Picture courtesy IPL
Those were certainly striking comments from Dhoni as earlier in the week while interacting with fans during the 75th year celebrations of India Cements, Dhoni dropped elaborate hints that he would be seen playing the next season for the Super Kings.
“When it comes to farewell, you can still come and see me play for CSK and that can be my farewell game. So you will still get that opportunity to bid me farewell.
“Hopefully, we will come to Chennai and I’ll play my last game over there and we can meet fans there,” Dhoni had said.
The Super Kings lost Thursday’s match by six wickets and Dhoni laid emphasis on the ability to deal with pressure in the knockout stage. His team though has already secured a play-offs berth.
“You have to cope up with that. We had played very good cricket to reach the play-off stages. We had a few bad games and one we felt like we could have made a comeback, but that’s part and parcel in leagues like these. So you have to be at your best.
“I don’t think motivation is a factor. Maybe we need to tune up slightly as to what needs to be done and also, if a few tosses had gone our way, things could’ve been different,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.
The iconic former India captain has not played in Chennai since 2019 as the last IPL was also held in the UAE. During the first leg of this year’s edition, the Super Kings played their matches in Mumbai before the league was suspended due to a breach in the bio-bubble.