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MS Dhoni has been a key member of the Chennai Super Kings franchise since the inception of the IPL and the team in 2008 and has helped the franchise to lift five IPL titles, making it the joint most successful IPL team along with Mumbai Indians. However, amid the continuous talks around the future of the former CSK skipper, their batting coach Michael Hussey hopes Dhoni will stay with the team for more couple of years.
Dhoni surprised everyone with his shocking decision to relinquish the captaincy duties just before the beginning of the 17th edition of the cash-rich league. Despite that, the 42-year-old Jharkhand player has been raining sixes in the IPL while coming into bat in the death overs. He has faced 60 balls this season and has scored 137 runs with an astonishing strike rate of 226.67 which also includes 12 hits in the stands.
I hope he keeps going for couple of years: Hussey on Dhoni’s future
CSK batting coach and former Australian batter, on his podcast with ESPN, said, “We are hoping he does keep going. 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.”
He quipped about his future with CSK and said, “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.”
It has been managed really well: Hussey on CSK captaincy change
Hussey also clarified on workload management of Dhoni owing to the knee operation he underwent last year. “That is why we have had to manage him a little bit, and he only comes in at the back end. But, there has been no one better in being able to come in and hit the ball so cleanly from ball one than MS. He has been phenomenal,” he added.
The 48-year-old also wanted that Dhoni should stick with the team during their transition period. He said, “MS sort of announced that he was not going to be attending the pre-tournament captains’ meeting. And we’re like, ‘Oh, no. What’s going on?’. He said Ruturaj was going to be captain from then on. So, it was a little bit of a shock to start with, but it has been managed really well.”
