At 36 years 325 days, Mahendra Singh Dhoni added yet another feather to his hat. On 27 May, Captain Cool led Chennai Super Kings to their third Indian Premier League title – matching Mumbai Indians’ record.
Returning to the league after serving a two-year suspension, CSK had raised a few eyebrows when they picked nine players above the age of 30 in their squad. But little did they know that it was the experience that the franchise was going after.
Thala – aka captain Dhoni – took the same bunch of 30-somethings, most of whom weren’t even regulars in their national teams, and struck a winning combination.
Add to that, the wicketkeeper-batsman finished as the team’s third-highest run scorer in IPL 2018, with 455 runs in 16 innings. His season with the bat was actually one of his best in all the IPLs so far, second only to the 461 runs he scored in 2013.
I mean, is there really anything that MS Dhoni can’t do?
And to the critics who’ve questioned his place in the Indian team, Dhoni has once again proven that his contribution is irreplaceable. Be it his skills behind the stumps, his almost always accurate DRS predictions, field settings and knocks that have rescued the team when needed.
In this IPL too, Mahi has performed all his responsibilities to near-perfection, even setting a number of records along the way.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)