Mohammad Kaif, the former Indian cricket player, is of the view that Mahendra Singh Dhoni should be retained in the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League(IPL). In his opinion, this is because Dhoni is still good in form, strong physically and he has a knack of hitting sixes with ease.
However, amongst all these speculations about Dhoni’s retirement from IPL games there seems to be no logic for him to leave it yet.
Last year, after going through knee surgery, Dhoni amassed 161 runs off 73 balls with an astonishing strike rate of 220.55 during the most recently concluded IPL season. What’s more his wicket-keeping skills never dull throughout the competition.
Under his captaincy Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have won a mammoth five titles in IPL. This leadership attribute combined with his on pitch performance has been key to their success over those years.
Kaif believes that he still has some gas left in the tank for Dhoni.
“I don’t think personally that he is finished. He could not win that game (last league match against RCB). In the last over after hitting a six, he got out. At his body language you could make out how disappointed he was not able to win so many games for CSK,” said Kaif who works as cricket expert with Star Sports according to PTI videos
“Why shouldn’t he come back? “He keeps fit and scores runs and hits sixes; why should one stop? …it’s up to him we can’t say what his plan is with dhoni,” added India’s greatest fielders Kaif
The 43-year-old also remarked that Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer had been a revelation with his calm demeanour at least attributing team’s success this year to his leadership qualities.
KKR entered their fourth final with a thumping eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1 and they finished on top of the league stage with 20 points.
“Last year, he missed out on the entire IPL and maybe KKR really missed him being the captain in 2023. He looks so calm under pressure because of how he is rotating his bowlers and picking his playing XI.
“IPL is a tournament where you have to be very cool minded; you should know what’s happening in the game and Iyer has grown a lot into that. For me, he has become a much better captain now,” Kaif stated.
Experts have identified Gambhir’s comeback as team mentor at KKR as one of the key factors for this season’s success. However, Kaif thinks Iyer’s leadership qualities on field are what made them perform impressively as a team.
“We always talk about (Gautam) Gambhir, but he can’t enter……in the rope with the players,” observed Kaif adding “He has been there with these guys and it will help him grow as an individual and player.”
“He missed out on (T20) World Cup this year (starting next month in USA and West Indies), however it’s going to be great learning experience for him leading from front captaining his side to finals ,” noted Kaif.“he has got bright future before him.”
Kaif believed that the IPL championship this year was likely to be won by KKR. This is because he felt that the team had two things needed for success in cricket tournaments like having an excellent set of bowlers and well-rounded combination. According to Kaif, these are necessary requirements for winning any tournament.
“I think KKR is a very well-balanced side. Tournament-winning team has to have good bowlers, KKR has got the bowlers. You saw how (Mitchell) Starc bowled against (SRH in Qualifier 1), it’s a balanced side. KKR has got all bases covered in terms of batting and bowling. They are the team to beat in the IPL, they are way ahead.”
