India’s fast-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur hailed the leadership qualities of former Indian captain MS Dhoni. The 32-year-old who made a comeback in yellow at Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 had a lacklustre season scoring just 21 runs in nine matches and bagging five wickets. Thakur talked about Dhoni’s leadership and how he refuses to spoon-feed bowlers saying that he won’t always be there to help them from behind the stumps.
"Playing with him has always been special because he allows us to grow. He allows us to come up with our own plan. So he will never spoon-feed us. He will say, 'Tomorrow I might not be available behind the wickets. What will you do? Go back to your room, think about your game, and come up with your plans, if it doesn't work then I will intervene,” said Thakur as quoted by Sportskeeda in an event hosted by the International Institute of Sports and Management (IISM).
Thakur also talked about the legacy and impact of Dhoni in India and CSK making him a modern-day great. He hailed Dhoni for backing Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma during tough times.
"The legacy that he has left behind, three ICC Trophies, grooming so many youngsters. Even the current greats I would say Virat, and Rohit, everyone in their life had a time where they could have been dropped. But the great MS Dhoni backed them and what they did after 2012 onwards up until now,” he said.
New retention rules ahead of mega auction
It will be interesting to see if CSK retain Thakur. However, it will depend on the retention rules ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. The franchise heads met the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on July 31 in Mumbai regarding retentions, salary caps, increment of retained players etc. The BCCI is expected to announce the changes in a few weeks’ time.
Meanwhile, Dhoni is yet to take a call on his IPL future. The 42-year-old recently revealed that his participation in the next edition depends on whether the number of players in the new retention rules gets increased.
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