The former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni left the cricketing fraternity in shock when he announced the retirement from all the three formats of international cricket on August 15, 2020. However, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans are now speculating the chances of him playing his last season in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The three-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are having an underwhelming season thus far in the IPL 2020 as they have managed to win just three games out of the ten matches they had played so far. The franchise is on the verge of being the first team to get eliminated from the league. On October 23, Friday, under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, Chennai witnessed a humiliating defeat against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI) by as many as 10 wickets.
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CSK was asked to bar first and in the powerplay itself, they were reeling at 24 for the loss of five wickets. It was the first time in the IPL history that CSK suffered a loss of their first 5 wickets in the powerplay. The pacers Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah were on a roll as they took four and two wickets respectively. Owing to a decent knock by Sam Curran of 52 off 47 deliveries, CSK could reach a score of 114 for the loss of nine wickets.
Chasing a target of 115 was no big thing for the Mumbai-based franchise despite the absence of their captain Rohit Sharma. Ishan Kishan emerged as a hero for MI with his quickfire innings of 68* off 37 while Quinton de Kock also played a crucial role by smashing 46* off 37. MI completed the run-chase with 46 balls to spare and climbed at the top of the table.
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Meanwhile, Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya had a memorable day as after the game they got their hands on MS Dhoni’s CSK cricket jersey.
A memorabilia to cherish for the Pandya brothers 👌👌#Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/Yl34xsh4OH
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 23, 2020
Earlier this week, MS had also given his No 7 jersey to England’s superstar Jos Buttler after the match against Rajasthan Royals on October 19, Monday.
As Dhoni is gifting his cricket jerseys to many players, the people on social media are left wondering if this is the last time Dhoni has been playing any form of competitive cricket. There are various speculations about Mahi’s last season in IPL and the incidents like these are only hinting about the same.
Here’s how fans reacted to MS Dhoni’s gesture:
https://twitter.com/pkmkb1971/status/1319693493174890496?s=20
Should consider him retired from 22:29 ?
— Aanish Bhardwaj (@AanishBhardwaj) October 23, 2020
Giving away T-shirt’s means he is not going to play next years IPL ?
— Surya (@smsurya) October 23, 2020
Why he is giving t-shirts, may be sign of last few matches of legend, end of era. Will be missed ☹️
— Bardr the Stout (@GK_XE8) October 23, 2020
Looks like an Era end for MSD .. Really miss his Shots @ChennaiIPL
— Venkata Rambabu (@pvrambabu) October 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/whitecrescent/status/1319702309455253504?s=20
https://twitter.com/Hemapratap95/status/1319704623658135552?s=20
Dhoni giving off his jerseys is an indication this might be his last ipl?
— The Non-Striker (@IamCK12) October 23, 2020
#MSDhoni Handing out your jersey to all opposing teams, upcoming retirement MSD?
— Ritesh N (@ritesh2077) October 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/sbjsjsnsjsjjsk/status/1319694210161725441?s=20
A memorabilia to cherish for the Pandya brothers 👌👌#Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/Yl34xsh4OH
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 23, 2020
