The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were recently cleared to being training ahead of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020), and the franchise took to Twitter to release some footage of their latest practice session.
In the short video, captain MS Dhoni took to the nets, although he was circumspect for the most part. Australian opener Shane Watson was also seen in action, both in the nets and in a discussion with coach Stephen Fleming. Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Sai Kishore, Piyush Chawla and Karn Sharma rolled their arm over in the nets, with Dhoni even directing a funny comment at an unnamed batsman:
"DRS(Decision Review System) or Dhoni Review System nahi lenge is bar, Chinta mat kar, We won't take DRS, don't worry!!"
MS Dhoni has been known as a big hitter, match finisher and a strong wicketkeeper since he stepped into the cricket world. Even Dhoni's batting in CSK's training camp has been appreciated by his fellow cricketers, but Irfan Pathan is surprised as Dhoni has practiced wicketkeeping against spinners for the first time in the training session for IPL. Nobody has ever seen Dhoni practicing wicketkeeping.
In a recent interview Irfan Pathan said, "We have seen a new scene in the CSK camp before IPL where MS Dhoni is practicing wicketkeeping. It has never happened, it is something new for me, because I have played cricket with him for so many years, be it for the Indian team or in the T20 league with CSK, I have never seen him practice wicketkeeping.
The reason is that he has not played cricket for a long time. I think some of the leg-spinners were bowlers, so he would be trying to check the new bowlers, but it is good to see that he is wicketkeeping during practice. "
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Check out snapshots of CSK's nets sessions here:
After much speculation regarding CSK playing the IPL 2020 season opener against the Mumbai Indians (MI) due to the positive COVID-19 tests in their camp, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced that the Men in Yellow will indeed take to the field on the 19th of September.
In the absence of vice-captain Suresh Raina and veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni will have to be at his very best if CSK are to claim their 4th IPL title. The former Indian skipper, who was the franchise's leading run-scorer in last year's IPL, might even promote himself up the batting order by a place or two.