Veteran spinner Piyush Chawla feels MS Dhoni would retire from competitive cricket first between the two. While they played in the 2024 IPL season, Chawla, 35, and Dhoni, 43, are both at the fag end of their playing careers as well. Notably, Chawla made his debut for India in T20Is in 2007 and played his last game in 2012 under Dhoni’s captaincy as well. He was also part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lineup in the 2020 IPL season with Dhoni as captain as well.
When asked who between himself and Dhoni would retire first, Chawla said as quoted by Hindustan Times: “Mahi bhai [smiles].”
However, Chawla also shared an interesting conversation he had with Delhi Capitals (DC) batter Prithvi Shaw that showed his hunger to continue playing for a while as well.
“A while ago, Prithvi Shaw told me, ‘Bas karo yaar ab PC bhai.’ I said, ‘I’ve played with Sachin paaji, and now playing with his son. I am playing with you, and after playing with your son, I will retire,'” said Chawla.
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Despite showcasing his talent often on the international stage, Chawla was quite inconsistent and has played only 35 games across formats for India as well. He had picked up 43 wickets with three four-wicket hauls and was part of the 2011 ODI World Cup-winning Indian squad as well. However, Chawla went unsold in the IPL 2022 auction after playing only one game for MI in 2021. However, they picked him again for the 2023 IPL season and he bounced back in style.
“With due respect to everyone, MI had good spinners but somewhere down the line, experience matters. If a pressure situation arises, the way an experienced campaigner will handle it, a youngster won’t be able to. When we were 20-21, we used to bowl to escape punishment, now we do it to pick wickets. When people questioned, ‘Why Piyush Chawla, and this that?’ I said, ‘Fine, let them talk.’ Then the same people started messaging me, posting on social media such as ‘PC is back, PC 2.0,” he added.
The veteran Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla also added that Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad are the two batters who can fill the void of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma when they will retire from all formats of international cricket.
“Shubman Gill – because of his technique. Whenever one goes through poor form, a batter who is technically strong can come out of it. Any batter who has a good technique cannot stay out of form for too long. So, Shubman Gill for sure and Ruturaj Gaikwad. (Getting dropped/ injured) is part and parcel of the game. It will keep happening. But, whenever he has got the opportunity, he has looked different. For me, these two players (Gill and Gaikwad) are special,” he concluded.
