There has been one common question at the start of an IPL season over the last few years – Will this be Dhoni’s last tournament? IPL 2023 was no different. With Dhoni into his 40s, the question became more and more relevant with veteran cricketers and former teammates having mixed replies. However, Dhoni in the post match presentation after the match against SRH on Friday admitted that he is “in the last phase of his career”, a statement that left fans emotional all over social media.
“All said and done, it’s the last phase of my career, however long I play,” he said when asked in the post-match interaction how he tends to deal with all the roar and crowd support at Chepauk. “After two years, the fans have had the opportunity to come here and watch, feels good to be here. The crowd has given us a lot of love and affection. Not getting enough chances to bat, but no complaints.”
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A few days back, during a promotional event for CSK, Dhoni was directly asked if this is his last IPL season as a player, to which he replied:
“There is lots of time to take that call. Right now, we have lots of games, and the coach will be under pressure if I say something,” Dhoni had said as the room burst into laughter.