‘You will see him as…’: Virender Sehwag’s bold prediction on MS Dhoni’s IPL future amid retirement talks

All eyes are on MS Dhoni who may be taking his last bow in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday. Dhoni is leading Chennai Super Kings against Gujarat Titans in his 11th IPL final outing. There is more buzz than ever about the legendary Indian captain with a big question mark about his cricketing future.

Fans have been given hope by the Impact Player rule. Some former players like Yusuf Pathan, Dwayne Bravo and Kevin Pietersen backed the idea of Dhoni playing in that kind of role for CSK in IPL 2024. However, Dhoni’s former India teammate Virender Sehwag has strongly rejected any such thoughts. Sehwag has confidently claimed that the impact player rule “doesn’t apply” to his former skipper.

Sehwag believes that Dhoni wouldn’t play at all if he wasn’t the captain as that is what the CSK skipper is in the team for. Going a step further, Sehwag made bold predictions on Dhoni’s future in that case.

“Impact Player rule doesn’t apply on MS Dhoni. Because he’s playing only for captaincy. He has to stay in the ground for captaincy. Impact Player rule is for someone who doesn’t field but bats, or a bowler who doesn’t need to bat. Dhoni has to field 20 overs; if he’s not the captain, he won’t even play as Impact Player. Then, you will see him as a mentor or coach or Director of Cricket,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

The only thing that Dhoni has till now given away on his IPL future is when he uttered the words “ample time to decide” after taking Chennai to a record 10th summit game, setting up the mouth-wattering CSK vs GT IPL 2023 final.

(Inputs from IANS)