Although it’s almost six years since MS Dhoni quit international cricket, it seems he still has some time to go as far as his retirement from the Indian Premier League is concerned, as he wants to remain in the enjoyment of playing cricket like a child. The former captain, aged 43, led India to three World Cup triumphs in 2011 in ODI, 2007 in T20, along with the Champions Trophy victory in 2013, played his last international game for India in June 2019. Although Dhoni quit international cricket in August 2019, he is playing in the IPL with Chennai Super Kings, who made sure to retain him ahead of the mega auction last year.
Having been almost six years out of international cricket, he will now take to the field as an uncapped player.
“My last retirement was 2019; I don’t know how long it will take. What I want to do in the last few years-some years-I just want to enjoy cricket,” Dhoni had said at the launch of his app powered by Single.id, on Wednesday.
“I want to enjoy it like I was as a child in school. In our colony, sports time would be at four in the afternoon; I used to go to play cricket, more often than not.
“But if the weather didn’t permit, we used to play football. I want to play in the same purity … easier said than done,” he added.
And he reiterated how, while he was still an India player, his main focus was to give his best for India and all other things fell into second place.
“An Indian player should be given opportunities to make his best for the country and everything else should come after that,” said Dhoni.
“I always wanted to perform for the Indian cricket team as a cricketer because I’ve already said that not all get a chance to represent the nation,” he said.
“So for any cricketer, those were the moments, if we got a chance to prove our mettle, it was to win glory for the country, and that was always foremost; that is what I should say,” remarked Dhoni, as he advised budding cricketers to identify what will be “good for you” and finally define the priorities.
“What is good for you, you always need to figure that out. When I was playing, I made sure that cricket was a whole for me-nothing else mattered. What time I had to sleep? What time I had to wake up? What impact it had on (my) cricket-it was the only thing that mattered,” shares Dhoni.
“You know, all these friendships, fun, all these can be done at a later time. There is a right time for everything, and I feel if a person is smart enough to recognise it, I mean, that is the best thing he could do for himself.”
