Former Indian left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan expects his ex-captain MS Dhoni to play IPL for a bit more long. However, Dhoni will be leading Chennai Super Kings as the skipper to defend the IPL title this season. They won their 5th title last year by beating Gujarat last year. Zaheer Khan while speaking in a recent interview, backed MS Dhoni to continue playing in IPL and he claimed that Dhoni will be seen in the Yellow jersey “for a long time” as well.
However, the veteran shared that he met MS Dhoni very recently and the CSK captain is looking extremely fit and fine to lead his side this year as well. Last year, Dhoni was struggling with a knee injury but he played the entire season. But, after the IPL final, he shared that he will be undergoing knee surgery and promised that he will be back for the 2024 edition.
“I feel you will see him on the field for a long time to come. You enjoy the game when you go away from the pressures of international cricket. The only challenge is how you prepare in the middle phase from IPL to IPL when you are away from cricket.” – Zaheer Khan said in a recent interview on Colors Cineplex. “However, if you talk only about cricket and the way he is taking the team along, you see an inspiration walking on the ground, and you will want this journey to continue for many years to come. I met him recently. He was looking very fit and mentally fresh. He was looking forward to this season.”
While talking about the CSK team combination, Zaheer Khan feels that they are looking like a well-settled squad whose approach and team combination will not change as well.
“They have an extremely settled squad. Chennai’s approach has been that you don’t see too many changes there. Shardul Thakur has come back now, who was a part of the Chennai Super Kings earlier as well. So he would know the team culture,” he replied. “If Devon Conway doesn’t take part in the initial stages or is not seen much in this IPL, Rachin Ravindra has that opportunity. We have seen a player only improve after coming into this atmosphere. The squad is settled and you can always expect good things from them,” Zaheer Khan concluded.
Chennai Super Kings squad for IPL 2024
MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly
