Have we seen last of MS Dhoni in IPL? CSK skipper answers question about his future post team’s loss in final

MS Dhoni couldn’t quite give a perfect finish to his team Chennai Super Kings (CSK)’s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 campaign as Mumbai Indians (MI) bagged their fourth title after a thrilling 1-run win in the final in Hyderabad on Sunday. It was a matter of nerves as the game went down to the wire and the result was decided on the final ball of the game. MI held their nerves well, courtesy a superb show in the death overs from Jasprit Bumrah and a clinical last over from Lasith Malinga.

Dhoni, who ended up on the losing side for the third time in an IPL against Mumbai Indians as captain, was disappointed with the performance of CSK batsmen as he lamented the wobbly effort with the bat. He also credited the bowlers for a good show and reasoned that both teams made a lot of mistakes with MI making one lesser than CSK to end up on the winning side.

Post his side’s loss, Dhoni was asked about his future in the IPL to which he gave a positive reply and also reckoned that CSK needs to start sorting out the issues in the squad after the World Cup ends.

“We have to go to our drawing board, and there is no real time for that now. We need to go into the World Cup and after that we need to see the gaps that we can fill. Nothing against the bowlers, it’s the batsmen who need to step up. [Will he be there in the next season?] Hopefully yes,” he said.

CSK bowlers were phenomenal as they restricted MI on 149/8 in 20 overs with the likes of Deepak Chahar and Imran Tahir producing brilliant spells yet again. In the top-order, none of the MI batsmen managed to cross the 30-run mark but Kieron Pollard played a stellar cameo towards the end and struck 41 off 25 balls to help his side reach closer to the 150-run mark. In reply, CSK got off to a good start with openers Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson posting a 33-run stand for the first wicket.

However, it was a one-man show thereafter as Watson played a sublime knock of 59-ball 80 but failed to find support from the other side as CSK fell short by one run at the end after Lasith Malinga defended 9 runs in the last over.