Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are back to seeing MS Dhoni do what he does best, which is finishing the innings in style. The wicket-keeper batter, who handed over the team’s captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad at the start of the campaign, has been in scintillating form with the bat, scoring runs at an exceptional pace in the death overs. CSK’s batting coach Michael Hussey took a deep dive into Dhoni’s preparation for the IPL 2024 campaign, as well as his mindset as he looked to explain the reason behind the Thala’s rich form.
Dhoni, so far this campaign, has scored 87 runs from 5 innings, and he is yet to be dismissed. He has struck at a strike rate of 255.88, proving to be the sort of batter at death that once bowlers feared.
“He’s just in a wonderful place in his career. He’s at a place where he’s comfortable, he’s happy, and he’s enjoying his cricket,” Hussey said on the eve of CSK’s home game against the Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
“He’s practiced and prepared really well coming into the tournament. Of course, bowlers are coming up with different plans against him because he’s probably the greatest finisher of all time.”
Standing tall at the age of 42, Dhoni has reinvented himself as a batter. If Hussey is to be believed, the CSK stalwart will ‘continue to evolve’ even at this stage of his career. Does that mean Dhoni will continue to play beyond this season? His form and mindset certainly isn’t ruling that out.
“The bowlers need to come up with different ideas. So that’s one of the wonderful things about MS. He’ll continue to evolve and continue even at this stage of his career to make himself better and make it harder for the bowlers to bowl to him,” he added.
As far as CSK’s remaining campaign is concerned, Hussey is happy to have three consecutive games at home, which certainly boosts the team’s chances of a finish in the playoffs.
“Of course, it is going to be really important. The closer you get to the back end of the tournament, the win becomes really important. Wins are important at any time of the tournament. We got off to a pretty good start, and we have a very good record at home,” Hussey said.
“If we can play well in the next three games, it gives us a really good chance. However, it is also dangerous for us to think it is just going to happen, and it is dangerous for us to think too far ahead as well,” he asserted.
