Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings to their 10th Indian Premier League final after beating Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023 Qualifier 1.
New Delhi: Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden believes Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a magician who can turn ‘trash into treasure’ following Chennai Super Kings entry into into the final of ongoing IPL 2023 despite not having the best of bowling attacks.
Dhoni, who himself played the whole tournament with a leg injury, has used his tactical genius in taking the franchise on verge of winning their fifth title and equal Mumbai Indians’ record in the league.
The way Dhoni used the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube in batting and Tushar Deshpande in bowling has impressed all and been praised widely. “MS is a magician. He takes someone else’s trash and makes them treasure,” Hayden told PTI.
“He is a very skilful and positive captain. He said something really interesting which I thought summed up not only his humility and his truth around cricket where he is represented and that is in Tamil Nadu Cricket Association,” he added.
“The alignment between that association and the franchise, how strong that is in terms of building that process. To me that is MS. There is a systematic way of going though things and working through them. He did that for India and he is doing it for Chennai Super kings.
Hayden, who played under Dhoni at CSK in the first three years of IPL, also felt that the charismatic skipper might not be around when IPL 2024 comes. Dhoni has given himself eight-nine months time to decide on future.
“Whether he plays or not next year it is almost irrelevant. Personally I don’t think he will but then he is MS Dhoni,” said Hayden, who has won multiple World Cups for Australia.
