MS Dhoni, at the beginning of last season, was a tad subdued after losing away to Australia and England. There were calls for his ouster as Test captain. Although he stayed aloof from reacting, this would have certainly affected his confidence. Now, after a creditable 4-0 win against Michael Clarke’s Australia in the Test series, Dhoni has got his mojo back.
The skipper agreed that their impressive show against Australia would reflect on their confidence in the IPL.
“Quite a few players from CSK — Vijay, Jadeja, Ashwin and myself — did well in the Aussie series. So that would be a big boost for us and will carry the confidence forward,” said Dhoni.
Captain of the team with the best win-loss ratio in the IPL, Dhoni is confident of his side replicating similar success. “We have been qualifying for the semis every year. We did not do badly last year after shaky performances in the league stage,” added Dhoni.
Although there was a 12-day breather after the Australia series, Dhoni did not complain. “We have had good practice sessions. I arrived on Wednesday and had two sessions at the stadium. We have two more practice sessions before the first match on Saturday,” said Dhoni.
When a fan on a social networking site probed Dhoni on not batting up the order, Dhoni replied: “It is good for me to bat at No 7. It is part of our strategy. It is working well. The credit goes to other players up the order who can turn a game around or speed up the flow of runs. We are a well balanced side with a lot of good finishers. Not much credit is given to Badrinath, but he is someone who has contributed with some valuable innings for us over time,” said Dhoni.
When another fan posted a question to Dhoni as to who will be the one player he will pick from past and present into his squad, Dhoni, after jocularly consulting Fleming, said: “ I would love to choose Sir Garfield Sobers in the Chennai Super Kings squad. For T20, you need someone who can bat, bowl and field well. I think no one did it better than Sir Garfield, so he would be my choice of one player that I could take from an array of past and present cricketers. Viv Richards will come close .”