The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was supposed to act as a stepping stone for Dhoni to showcase his worth and forge his way back into the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle has expressed his thoughts on MS Dhoni possible return to the Team India squad in near future.
Bhogle claimed that the former Indian skipper's comeback into the national set is looking bleaker and bleaker amid coronavirus outbreak across the nation.
Ever since India's semi-final exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 against New Zealand in August, MSD made himself unavailable for selection. During his break from cricket, the 38-year-old also served for the Indian Army too.
The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was supposed to act as a stepping stone for Dhoni to showcase his worth and forge his way back into the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to postpone the kick-off the IPL 2020 till April 15, 2020.
“My gut feel is that his (Dhoni’s) India ambitions might be over. I don’t think Dhoni would have been looking to September-October for the T20 World Cup. Maybe if he just had a great IPL but my gut feeling is that was beyond him,” Harsha said during a Cricbuzz podcast
The opening match of this year's IPL was supposed to be played between the most successful teams of IPL - defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) - at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 29.
Under the capable leadership Dhoni, CSK won three IPL titles (2010,2011, 2018) and will be looking to equal Mumbai's record of four this season.
Nevertheless, Harsha still believes MS got a huge role to play in the IPL.
“I still do believe so that Dhoni desperately turnout for CSK," Harsha said.
The reason I think so. Last year towards the end of the IPL, towards the end of the league stage I got an opportunity f doing a couple of post-match presentations and there was Dhoni and he wasn’t holding back at the presentations which were normally three-four minutes but this one seven to nine minutes almost and when Dhoni is in that talkative mode we don’t stop him,” he added.
Earlier this month, a BCCI source had claimed that MS will be back in contention for India's T20 World Cup squad if his performances are above per in the IPL this year.
Speaking on Dhoni's charismatic pull, Harsha said: “I asked him what it feels to be called Thalaiva by the CSK fans and what it meant to someone who was always associated to Ranchi to get this love from Chennai and for the first time I saw a little bit of softness behind this facade that tells you nothing."
“He talked about the great honour of being given this title, he said that when people give you that title how much they love and he said there is a lot of gratitude, I feel so greatly when I am among these fans."
"I thought there was this slightly softer side of Dhoni and that’s why Dhoni still wants to give back to CSK,” he concluded.
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 "Harsha Bhogle and MS Dhoni")
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