Chennai Super Kings (CSK) middle-order batter Ambati Rayudu applauded captain MS Dhoni for leading the team to a fifth IPL title at the age of 41. CSK beat the Gujarat Titans in a last-ball thriller to win the IPL 2023 final to win their fifth title, equalling Mumbai Indians’ (MI) record. Before the final, the veteran announced his retirement after 14 years in the IPL as well.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV Sports, Ambati Rayudu paid tribute to MS Dhoni, who played with a strapped knee. “He thinking beyond himself, he thinking for everybody, he thinks even for India, the whole population, that’s his greatest attribute,” Rayudu said. “At this age doing what he is doing is incredible, I don’t think anybody else could have done what he is doing and not just playing but playing so well, he is just magic.”
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“Definitely, that win against Mumbai’s in Chennai was one game where we really felt we are in this season, in for the real deal and from there on, maybe the KKR game was a little dampener but it actually fired us up to go to Delhi and win a must-win game and from there on we knew if we do our basics right we are in with a really good chance. But we were always scared of GT, the way they were playing this season, we really didn’t want them to come to the finals but we had to face them especially their bowling it was unbelievable,” Rayudu added.
Ambati Rayudu also opined on being part of six IPL title runs with the two most successful franchises, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, in his cricketing career as well. He was part of the Mumbai Indians squad from 2010 to 2017 before joining CSK in 2018.
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“It’s just that these two teams have been blessed with really good team players more than individual stars, that’s always been the case. If you look at even MI, I don’t they’ve had many orange caps and purple caps in their seasons and still they won a lot of trophies and even in CSK , there are lot of players who go out there and do everything for the team and not just from 2018 but from a very long time. That’s the culture that has really made both the teams successful,” Ambati Rayudu concluded.
