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India's ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said he was thrilled to see Mahendra Singh Dhoni whack the ball around the park against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) on April 12. Ashwin was amazed by Dhoni's bat speed and said with age it tends to slow down but that's not the case for Chennai's skipper.
The 36-year-old all-rounder revealed that he asked Dhoni that how he has been able to improve his bat speed. Ashwin joked that the secret behind the bat speed might be driving tractors before the season began. The World Cup-winning captain smashed an unbeaten 31 off 17 balls that included two huge sixes in the final over thriller against Royals. But, CSK fell short by three runs as Sandeep Sharma kept Dhoni at bay. Meanwhile, Dhoni has struck 6 sixes in four matches so far in the IPL.
"I was mesmerised by watching MS Dhoni bat. I was watching him bat for the last two years. Of course, I have been watching him bat over the last two years. Obviously, as you get older, your hand speed will come down and your bat speed will also come down. It will have an effect, right?" Ashwin said.
"He hasn't not been playing international cricket, he has not been facing international quality bowlers. So just when I thought his reaction time will be a bit slow and all that. Plus he was seen only driving tractors on his time away from the IPL. Now he has come into the season and has been smashing sixes at will. I asked him about it, about his bat speed. What did you do for the bat speed? He replied by saying that he was practising since January," Ashwin added.
The explosive finisher has not been at the top of his game in the last two editions of the IPL but has started this season with a bang for CSK. He has been striking the ball at a high rate of 214.81 and keeps himself ready to bat lower down the order in a star-studded Chennai batting line-up.
Ashwin also feels that this might not be the last IPL season for Dhoni as the speculations around his retirement are untrue. "The public might assume as if he just came and started smashing everything. We will hear these things from others, but I heard about Dhoni from the man himself. I thought he came stronger because of driving tractors and doing agriculture. His biceps are looking strong. I don't think it is his last year in the IPL. He can play easily for 3-4 more years, right? For 7-8 years?" Ashwin opined.
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