The cricket fans may get to see glimpses of MS Dhoni’s brilliance in the upcoming IPL season as the former skipper may bat at No.7 or No. 8 in the batting order and it will allow him to extract maximum results out of minimum deliveries, reckons former India batter Robin Uthappa. Dhoni, now 43, exhibited his readiness for IPL 2025 while smashing the bowlers around at the Chennai Super Kings net session on Tuesday. He even launched pacer Matheesha Pathirana’s searing yorker on off-stump over the bowler’s head for a six with a helicopter shot. “As far as Mahi is concerned, I think we will get to see glimpses of his brilliance because I have a feeling that he might bat at number 7 or number 8. Very much like last year, and we will see him bat between 12 and 20 balls through the season,” said Uthappa.
So, will Dhoni walk away after this season? Uthappa wasn’t ready to predict the road ahead for the five-time IPL winning former CSK captain.
“I don’t think the passion ever dies. MS’ love for the game has not dwindled at all. I think his passion for the game keeps him going. At 43, I think he’s got the fastest hands in the world as a wicketkeeper.
“And if you’ve got those skills and if you’ve got the passion to keep going. I don’t think anything should stop you. I won’t be surprised if he retires at the end of the season. But I won’t be surprised if he even goes on to play for another four seasons after this,” said Uthappa, the JioStar expert, while addressing the media prior to the 18th edition of IPL.
Good season for Kohli, Rohit
Veteran batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma too will return to the T20 format for the first time after winning last year’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Uthappa felt that both Kohli and Rohit will have fantastic season.
“I don’t think they’ll have even an iota of issues to come out there and smash the living daylights out of bowlers. Virat has really come through in good form. He’s familiar with conditions in Bangalore that he’s always going to thrive there,” he said.
“In the recent past, Rohit hasn’t lived up to his potential as the incredibly dynamic batter that he is in the IPL. But it looks like everything is going his way at this point in time. So, I wouldn’t put it past him to have one of his best seasons in the IPL,” he added.
Franchises like Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru will go in with first-time captains in Axar Patel and Rajat Patidar in this edition of the IPL.
Uthappa said it will be challenging for them, and expressed confidence that they can adapt to the role.
“Axar will be in a little bit better stead because even with the new-ish side, there’s still a lot of familiar faces. With Rajat also, it’s a similar situation. But Rajat will have to contend with the superstardom of Kohli within that side. So, he can lean on Kohli’s captaincy skills a lot. Rajat is in a unique position to be able to take RCB forward.
“Rajat being there at the helm right now, he will have to figure out his mode of leadership. He has done fairly well with leadership in domestic cricket.” Uthappa said both Axar and Patidar will have to find ways to manage their bowlers at the venues in Bengaluru and Delhi which are smaller in dimension.
“The challenges would be home conditions. How do you win in home conditions? Especially both in these similar venues like Delhi and in Bangalore — small grounds, high-scoring grounds, no real home advantage.
“So, they’ll have to figure out a solution for that as leaders. For me, I think that would be one of the biggest challenges that they would face,” he noted.
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