Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
MS Dhoni returns: Former India captain hits the nets as preparations for CSK's IPL 2023 campaign begins - Watch
MS Dhoni could be seen in full batting gear and facing deliveries at the JSCA.
MS Dhoni has returned to the nets in his home state of Jharkhand. The former India captain may have retired from international cricket in August 2020 but still remains an integral part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and he now seems to have started preparations for the 2023 IPL.
Dhoni can be seen in Jharkhand's training kit in the nets. He doesn't play any big shots in the video, first looking to defend and then playing a shot towards the leg side. Other batters can also be seen training alongside him. Seeing Dhoni bat outside of the lead-up to the IPL or the during the tournament itself, is an increasingly rare thing especially since he retired from international cricket.
Off late, Dhoni was seen shooting an advertisement with fellow World Cup-winning former India captain Kapil Dev before which he could be seen enjoying the Wimbledon Championships in London. Dhoni remains one of the biggest draws in the IPL but his powers with the bat have been on wane since 2019. He had scored 416 runs in the 2019 IPL at a strike rate of 134.62 but since then, he has managed tournament tallies of 114 runs and 232 runs in the 2020 and 2021 tournaments. He had stepped down as CSK captain at the beginning of last season, thus marking a temporary end to his tenure that had started in the inaugural season of the IPL, but returned to the position after Ravindra Jadeja vacated it with the team enduring a horrendous run of form.
Widely rated as one India's most succesfull captains of all time, Dhoni is the only skipper to have won the T20 World Cup, the World Cup and the Champions Trophy. He also was captain when India became the No.1 ranked Test team for the first time ever in 2008. With the bat, he was known for his prowess as a finisher but was also known to play some destructive innings accross formats and he was also recognised as one of the best wicketkeepers of his generation.
