It has been nearly six years since he walked away from international cricket but retirement from the Indian Premier League might not be imminent for the legendary MS Dhoni, who wants to enjoy playing cricket like a “child”. The 43-year-old former captain, who led India to World Cup wins in 2011 (ODI) and 2007 (T20) along with the Champions Trophy triumph in 2013, last made his international appearance for the country in June 2019. While Dhoni called time to his international career in August 2019, he continues to feature in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings who retained him ahead of the mega auction last year.
He will now play as an uncapped player, having spent more than five years as a retired player from international cricket.
“I’ve retired since 2019, so it will be quite some time. What I’ve been doing in the meantime is I just want to enjoy cricket for the last, whatever few years, you know, I will be able to play,” Dhoni’s said on Wednesday during the launch of his app powered by Single.id.
“I want to enjoy it, how I did as a child when I was in school. When I lived in a colony, 4 o’clock (in the afternoon) was sports time, so we’ll go and play cricket more often than not.
“But if the weather doesn’t permit, we used to play football. I want to play with the same kind of innocence… (but it is) easier said than done,” he added.
Dhoni said as an India player his focus was always to give his best for the country and everything else came second.
“For me as a cricketer, I always wanted to perform for the Indian cricket team because I’ve said that in the past also, that not everybody gets a chance to represent the country,” he said.
“For us as cricketers, whenever we went on to the big stage or whenever we were touring, there was a chance for us to win laurels for the country and so for me it was the country that always came first.” Dhoni advised young players to identify what is “good for you” and set the priorities right.
“You always need to figure out what is good for you. When I was playing, I made sure that cricket was a whole for me — nothing else mattered. What time I had to sleep? What time I had to get up? What impact it had on (my) cricket, that was the most important thing,” he said.
“You know, all the friendships, the fun, all those can happen later. There is a right time for everything and I felt if you are able to recognise that, that’s the best thing you can do (for yourself).”
Topics mentioned in this article
