MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings were the first team to be out of the running for the IPL 2020 playoffs but that didn't stop them from spoiling a few other team’s campaigns. In their final match of the season, CSK beat KXIP by 9 wickets to knock out KL Rahul’s team from the qualification race as well.
As the former champions bow out of the tournament with three straight victories, skipper MS Dhoni talked about their campaign in the post-match presentation on Saturday evening.
‘It was a difficult campaign for us. Don’t think we played to our potential. We committed a lot of errors. The last four games could be a template of where we would have liked ourselves to be. Proud of the guys because if you're lagging behind for 7-8 games, it becomes really difficult to push yourself and come out with performances. That’s where each and everyone had to contribute and really proud of the way they played cricket.
With the next IPL season just four months away – if it indeed starts in March – Dhoni was also asked about the team’s plans going forward.
“A lot depends on what BCCI will decide about the auction,” said Dhoni referring to the IPL auction that’s supposed to take place in December of January. This one is slated to be the big auction in which teams are allowed to retain just 3 players while everyone else goes back into the pool.
However, there has been talk about BCCI wanting to go another year with the current squads and delaying the big auction until after the next season.
Dhoni indicated that whenever the big auction does take place, they will likely be going for an overhaul, handing it ‘over the next generation’.
“We need to slightly change our core group and looks for the next ten years. At the start of the IPL, we made a team that served us well for ten years. There comes a time when you shift a bit, change a bit and hand it over to the next generation. I feel that will be our policy, to try and form a strong core group and if there’s a small or a big auction, we bring in players who compliment the core group because that’s where we lagged this season,” he said.
At the toss, MS Dhoni was asked if this would be his last season in yellow and his answer ‘definitely not’ was much discussed during the game.
Dhoni, after all, had announced his international retirement earlier this year and Harsha asked him then about the many jerseys he had signed or given away to his competitions during this season.
‘Maybe they thought I was retiring. I retired from international cricket so they thought I’m retiring from the shortest format also,’ said Dhoni.
‘Definitely not, right?,’ asked Harsha and got an answer in the affirmative, ‘definitely not’.
Asked about a message to the fans, Dhoni simply said, ‘we'll come back strong. That's what we're known for’
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