Chennai Super Kings batting coach Mike Hussey has revealed MS Dhoni isn’t turning up at the venue on match days as it could turn out into a distraction for the team. Dhoni, who injured his calf muscle during the pre-season camp, hasn’t featured in a single match yet. Though he has been training regularly in the lead up to the matches, on match days he hasn’t turned up at the venue and instead chosen to be at the team hotel.
And speaking on the eve of their match against Mumbai Indians Hussey admitted that Dhoni doesn’t turn up at the ground and elaborated the reasons for it. “He’s such a team-orientated guy, MS Dhoni. He always wants what’s best for the team and he was worried that if he came, there’d be a bit too much of a distraction. Obviously, the cameras would be on him a lot. The crowd would be cheering for him and things like that. And he really wanted the team to just be able to go about their job, do our thing. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s not my decision to sort of make, but that’s the thinking behind with Dhoni not wanting to come to the matches,” Hussey said.
Even though Dhoni hasn’t been fit to play, there have been talks how the team could benefit from his presence in the dugout. With quite a few young, inexperienced players in the team, there is a scope for them to lean on in crunch situations. And Hussey too admitted he would prefer having Dhoni in the dugout.
“Obviously, he’s been watching very closely back home. I personally love having him around the dressing room. He offers so much wisdom. He offers so much confidence to the rest of the guys. So he’s obviously at training all the time and always a bubbly personality around training and offers a lot of his experience to the players there. But it was just a case he didn’t want to see himself as a distraction to the rest of the team and that’s why he decided on game day just to sort of stay away,” Hussey added.
With the IPL rules permitting only around 18-20 players in the dressing room, teams leaving behind players in the hotel isn’t new.
Meanwhile, with regards to his participation in the game against Mumbai Indians on Saturday, Hussey kept the chances open. “Hopefully he’ll be back as soon as possible. I don’t know if it’s tomorrow or it’s maybe the next match after that, but he’s progressing really well. I know he’s been upping his running speeds and that was probably the sticking point. I think we’re very confident from a skill perspective with his batting and his wicketkeeping, but it was just making sure that he could maintain good running power, particularly towards the back end of an inning where he’s going to have to scan for those ones and twos. So as soon as he’s got the confidence in his calf, then I’m sure he’ll give it the tick to ready to go,” Hussey said.
