CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, right, and MS Dhoni during a training session. (PTI photo)
CHENNAI: There is a lot of anticipation over whether MS Dhoni will be seen playing for the last time at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday. He showed up late for practice on Sunday, got padded out, did some warmups and headed straight to the net, hitting those powerful shots we’ve become so accustomed to seeing over the years.Go beyond boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!There was no clarity from CSK whether he would play, although he was told he would do the usual fan events he does every year at the end of CSK’s home campaign.
Although Dhoni was absent from the midfield during the season due to a calf injury, his experience was invaluable to the team. During one of the events leading up to the training session on Sunday, Dhoni spoke about his suggestions to skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.“What I told Ruto is to run CSK the way he wants to run it. This is the way I have run CSK for a very long time.
I always felt it was a game where the captain had to make the decisions. Yes, there are coaches and assistants, but it’s not like football where the coach decides. “In cricket, it is about the captain and he has to decide,” Dhoni said.Read also: Will MS Dhoni play today in CSK’s final home match of the season?Legend has it that there may be things Ruturaj can pick up from him, but he basically needs to be his own man. “Yes, there would be certain things he would pick from the way I was driving.
“But individuals are different… Whatever style you feel, you have complete freedom here to make a decision,” Dhoni said.The 44-year-old explained how he advised his student that he would be open to giving advice. “I’m very open, I’ll come and talk to you, but you don’t have to do even one thing I talk to you about. Let’s say I come up with ten pieces of advice, if you don’t follow even one, that’s fair enough. When you’re the leader, you have to take that responsibility.”
“As a leader, you see what resources you have and how you want to use them,” Dhoni added.The former skipper, who led the team to five titles, insisted that he always insisted on a ‘cricket first’ approach that led to the team’s success. “We are someone who believes in focusing more on cricket. Yes, we had to do a lot of other cricket-related things, but as a franchisee, we know that our core is cricket and we must stick to that,” he said at the event organized by Etihad Airways, one of the team’s sponsors.Dhoni’s amazing fan connection also came up for discussion and the Jharkhand man explained how he did not go the extra mile to ensure it.“In my case, I never wanted to attract fans or get more followers. I just wanted to be honest. Once you are honest, people start loving you and start picking the things they like about you,” Dhoni said, which could be a lesson for modern-day avid cricketers.He added that the team’s consistency went a long way in its success. “Crowd support is important, when the chips are down, you can get an extra 10-15% from the audience,” Dhoni said.
