Thala' s return will make CS K different

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's return to competitive cricket would be the more keenlywatched sub-plot of the Chennai Super Kings' IPL campaign, which hit a rough patch quite early thanks to a couple of major pullouts and COVID-19 cases in the contingent.

The playoff regulars will open the tour nament with what is expected to be an intense clash against defending champions Mumbai Indians on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

In the run-up to this showdown, the side has battled 13 COVID-19 cases, including two players, and pullouts by the senior duo of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh due to personal reasons.

But as Virender Sehwag aptly put it, the focus is likely to be exclusively on Dhoni's return to the field exactly 34 days after he called time on his international career.

Having led CSK to three titles and eight finals, no one knows the IPL pitch better than Chennai's very own 'Thala', whose maximum utilisation of available resources is the stuff of legends.

It will be a new tournament for Dhoni in slightly unfamiliar surroundings, away from "Fort Chepauk" and without his most trusted lieutenant in Canary Yellow, Raina.

It will not be easy to alter a batting line-up of 10 seasons in which Raina was the stablest and the most influential No.3 in the history of IPL.

Save for the last season, when the left-hander was in horrendous form, Raina has been outstanding for the side. It was credit to Dhoni and his marshalling of re