Not MS Dhoni's last season? CSK staff Stephen Fleming and Michael Hussey open up
Michael Hussey and Stephen Fleming speak about the chances of IPL 2024 being Dhoni's last IPL season.
Chennai Super Kings batting coach Michael Hussey and head coach Stephen Fleming have opened up on MS Dhoni's IPL retirement. It is believed that IPL 2024 could be Dhoni's last season of his IPL career. Dhoni had a knee surgery straight after winning the IPL title in 2023.
The CSK team management has been managing his knee lately, which is the reason why he is coming out to bat for only a few balls rather than batting for a longer period. Dhoni has been in amazing form in IPL 2024. He has scored 136 runs at a strike rate of 226.66 by having being dismissed just twice so far.
Michael Hussey opens up on MS Dhoni's IPL future
While speaking on ESPN's Around the Wicket show, Michael Hussey revealed that he had no idea about Dhoni's last IPL game but hopes that the veteran could carry on for two more years.
"Your guess is as good as mine at this stage. He keeps his cards very, very close to his chest. We are hoping he does keep going," Hussey said.
"He is still batting so well. He does prepare well - he gets into the camp very early and hits a lot of balls. He has been in good touch all season really. I guess we just got to try to manage him from the body side of things. He had a knee surgery after the last season. So he has been managing that from the initial stage of the tournament," Hussey answered why Dhoni is batting only for a few balls.
"From a personal point of view, I hope he keeps going for another couple of years. But we will just have to wait and see. He is the only one who will make that call. And he likes to sort of build the drama a little bit as well. So I wouldn't expect a decision anytime soon," the former Australian batter added.
Stephen Fleming on MS Dhoni's injury
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming had earlier stated that they want to maximize Dhoni's knowledge and experience as much as they can.
"Don't worry about position, it's time of the game that we're looking at. We've seen earlier on, when he recovered from knee surgery last year, which was quite debilitating for him, [that] there was a certain workload this year that he can manage," Fleming had earlier said at a pre-match press conference.
"Now, one of our challenges is that we got a good back-up keeper (Aravelly Avanish), but he's no MS Dhoni. We want to keep MS Dhoni on the field doing what he does best, which is the last two-three-four overs with the bat, and his keeping and his ability... the sheer technical advice for the new captain is really important."
"We're valuing some other things. Physically it's risky," Fleming said. "We've seen early on in the season, a little bit of muscle injury - if he does bat too long, we run the risk of losing him. So we're trying to find that balance where he can have an impact on the match," he added.
"We're just guarding against him batting for five or six overs and (having to) sprint every couple of balls. It's a specific role we are using him for. It's been partly last year, but it's now become an issue, but it hasn't really changed," Fleming stated.
Chennai Super Kings are third on the points table currently with 7 wins in 13 games so far. If they win their next game against RCB, they will qualify for the IPL playoffs for a record 13th time.
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