XtraTime Web Desk: Amidst the speculation about his international comeback, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is unperturbed. The two time former World Cup winning Indian captain looked in spectacular touch during the Chennai Super Kings training camp that had to be called off due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The CSK captain was extremely focused with his preparation ahead of the Indian Premier League this season which got officially postponed for an indefinite period on Wednesday. Dhoni attended the pre-season training camp from Day 1 i.e., March 2.
Dhoni, who is 38 years old now was also seen practicing wicket-keeping at the nets, something he didn’t do at CSK training in the last 10 years. According to CSK physiotherapist Tommy Simsek,“For the first time in about 10 years I saw MS do some wicket-keeping training and that goes to show that he was definitely keen, definitely focused to do well this year.”
Simsek was worried that he hadn’t done much for a long time and then that he would try and do too much, too soon and he may get injured.
“It turned that I need not have worried – MS being the professional, he looked in really good shape. He said he’d started (training) a month or so before our fitness camp,” Simsek said.
CSK’s bowling coach, Lakshmipathy Balaji described Dhoni as a natural athlete and said he never looked rusty at training.
“MS is a natural athlete and supremely fit. He didn’t look rusty, didn’t look one bit like he was away from the game. He was clearly looking forward to the season, the way he was training, batting, keeping and being involved with the team,” said Balaji.
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who was picked by the franchise during the auction late last year, said Dhoni was focused and showed match-like intensity in the way he was batting and keeping.
“Mahi bhai was absolutely focused, training purposefully and was looking really good. He was showing match-like intensity in the way he was batting and keeping and that was rubbing off on others,” Chawla was quoted as saying on the CSK website