The 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) will begin at the close of the month, and franchises and teams are slowly beginning to put their teams together. While the majority of international players are taking on duties for the national team players who are not playing international cricket are making their way into hotels for team players already. one of them is Chennai Super Kings (CSK) legendary MS Dhoni.
Dhoni who will retire of international cricket the month of August, 2020 was presented with a bouquet of flowers and snapping photos with the fans following his arrival at his hotel. Since his arrival at the CSK team hotel and beginning his net-based training practices at Chepauk Stadium have often signalled the start of the IPL season in the country.
Dhoni is greeted by dholaks and as well as a bouquet of flowers on arrival at Chennai airport. Many fans have also be seen trying to capture photographs of him as the CSK captain is escorted to his car. The party continued once when he reached the hotel. In a second video released from CSK CSK itself, Dhoni could be seen receiving a bouquet of flowers and posing for a picture with a fan who was a child in addition to heading to his hotel room.
CSK also posted videos of other players who were at the hotel of the team. Some of them were Ambati Rayudu, and former India vice-captain of the Test squad Ajinkya Rahane. All-rounder Shivam Dube also posed for cameras on his arrival at the hotel of the team.
Dhoni had quit to become the captain before the beginning in the 2022 IPL season, and handed the reins over on to all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. After a disastrous run of form that almost all but eliminated CSK out of competition for knockout stages only for twice in history Dhoni returned to the captaincy. He was the former India captain has turned 41 and speculation has been swirling over what that 2023 IPL season will be his final. CSK representatives have been reported as saying that a lot of people within the team believe this is the year that could be his last.
Dhoni himself said that he was not going to give up playing his part in the IPL with out playing for supporters of Chepauk Stadium. Chepauk stadium, which was not possible in the past two seasons because of the Covid-19 virus. “It’s a simple reason: it will be unfair to not play in Chennai and say thank you. Mumbai is one place, where, as a team and as an individual, I have got a lot of love and affection. But it wouldn’t be nice to the CSK fans,” Dhoni was quoted as saying last year.
“And also, hopefully, next year there will be an opportunity where the teams will be traveling so it will be like (saying) thank you to all the different places where we will be playing games at different venues,” Dhoni has added. In the 2022 edition of the IPL was the first time that IPL returned to the event to India. In the season that began in 2020, the IPL was exclusively played in the UAE due to the spread of the pandemic in India however, the 2021 season was to be played at Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Chennai, together with Mumbai. However, the game was delayed halfway in due to an onset of the second round of the pandemic, and the remaining portion of the season were played within the UAE. In 2022, the season was played exclusively in India but it was played in three stadiums located in Mumbai as well as Pune, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. The 2023 season is an return to the away and home format which implies it is likely that Chennai fans will again be able to cheer on the team they love CSK in Chepauk stadium for the first time since 2019. Chepauk arena for the very first time in the 2019 season.
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