The upcoming edition of cricket's biggest festival, the Indian Premier League (IPL), is still a fortnight away but the predictions have already started coming. Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star and Australia legend Matthew Hayden believes this will be the MS Dhoni's final appearance at the lucrative T20 league and the team will leave no stone unturned to make it a memorable one for their stalwart.
The IPL 2023 starts on March 31 with CSK slated to face the defending champions Gujarat Titans in the season opener.
Meanwhile, days after Hayden's huge prediction on Dhoni, another ex-CSK star Harbhajan Singh has made a massive claim about another CSK campaigner, predicting him to be the game changer in the upcoming edition.
"The one person who everyone should keep an eye on is Ravindra Jadeja, especially how he bats for CSK. He may be promoted up the order plus he has his four overs. If you look at it from a world cricket perspective, I don't think there's a better all-rounder than him.
“I'm looking forward to seeing Ravindra Jadeja in the IPL. The X factor for me will be Ravindra Jadeja because he has been very successful in these conditions as a bowler and a batsman, he's been playing there for so many years. So for me, he is definitely going to be the X factor for the side,” Harbhajan said during an interaction with Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}“I'm looking forward to seeing Ravindra Jadeja in the IPL. The X factor for me will be Ravindra Jadeja because he has been very successful in these conditions as a bowler and a batsman, he's been playing there for so many years. So for me, he is definitely going to be the X factor for the side,” Harbhajan said during an interaction with Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}After spending several months on the sidelines following a knee injury, the Saurashtra all-rounder has made a successful return to top-flight cricket. He was also named the Player of the Series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2022-23, which India won 2-1.
Jadeja, who was named as the new CSK skipper, didn't have a good outing and quit the role, following which MS Dhoni was reinstated as the skipper. The franchise lost six out of the first eight matches under Jadeja's captaincy.
Meanwhile, Harbhajan also mentioned Dhoni to be the heart of CSK. "The biggest strength of this team is MS Dhoni. He is the heart of the team. He knows the team very well and he is probably the best person to get the most out of each player in the team."
Sharing his views on the unit assembled by CSK, Harbhajan named Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Devon Conway and Maheesh Theekshana to play a pivotal role in the upcoming season for CSK.
"Firstly I would select Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali ofcourse, Conway will definitely be in the side and Theekshana, before Pathirana because Theekshana will be more effective in Chennai. But if the match happens in a place like Mumbai, against Mumbai Indians, then I will select Pathirana because he bowls a lot like Malinga and spin doesn’t play a big factor over there.
"If I have to select the four overseas players it would be Conway, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Theekshana," he said.