Former Australian batter and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Michael Hussey lavished praise on MS Dhoni's fitness. Hussey said that Dhoni is like the reverse-ageing fictional character ‘Benjamin Button’ who keeps getting better.
Dhoni walked up to the nets to practice ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as the CSK will face Royal Challengers Banglore (RCB) in the season opener match on March 22 at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
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Speaking at the inauguration of the Pavit Singh Nayar Memorial All India inter-college T20 tournament at Guru Nanak College in Chennai, Hussey shed light on Dhoni's fitness by comparing him with ‘Benjamin Button’, who is a character in the Hollywood movie starring Brad Pitt. This is a short story about a man who ages in reverse and becomes younger as his age increases.
'He's batting extremely well at the moment'
"He's preparing really well. His knee seems good at this stage. And he's batting extremely well at the moment. I must admit he's like Benjamin Button! He keeps getting better," said Hussey.
Hussey added that Dhoni will reprise his batting role from last season. The 42-year-old Dhoni has led CSK to five titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023. They beat Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final of the IPL 2023 season at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
"He's not as young as he used to be. So, the scampering between the wickets is going to be more difficult for him. But at the back end of the innings, where there's not as much sprinting, he can still hit the ball very cleanly. And he's hitting the ball extremely well at the moment. It's great to see," Hussey added.
Hussey commented on CSK's challenges with injuries to key players such as Devon Conway, Matheesha Pathirana, and Mustafizur Rahman, stating that the team possesses adequate squad depth to fill in for the sidelined players.
"Well, of course, they're world-class players. So, it's going to be difficult to replace them. But we feel like we've got enough depth in the squad to be able to cover it at this stage," said Hussey.
CSK IPL 2024 SQUAD
MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.
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