For Chennai, age is just a number
DHONI: SUPER KINGS SKIPPER PUT PREMIUM ON FITNESS
Nine 30-plus stars in title-winning campaign.
Mumbai
Mahendra Singh Dhoni said fitness was more important than youth as he celebrated winning the Indian Premier League at the age of 36 – and looked increasingly good for a fourth World Cup next year.
Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings drew criticism for picking ageing warriors in the IPL auction, but the 30-somethings easily triumphed over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sunday’s final.
Shane Watson’s unbeaten 117, laden with eight sixes, and Dhoni’s tactical nous were more than a match for the Sunrisers’ spin wonderkid Rashid Khan, 19, and big-hitting captain Kane Williamson, 27.
Both Dhoni and Watson will be celebrating their 37th birthdays in the next six weeks, making them the oldest of nine 30-plus players in Chennai’s 24-man squad that swept aside the Sunrisers by eight wickets.
Watson said he will now need a three-month rest to get over a hamstring injury that had made him question whether he would finish the seven-week IPL season.
Dhoni, India’s captain when they won the 2011 World Cup, insisted that “age is just a number” when it comes to winning big trophies.
“It is the fitness that matters more than the age aspect,” he said.
“What captains want is players who move well on the field. It doesn’t matter which year a player is born in, whether you are 19 or 20 – you have to be agile,” the wicketkeeper-batsman added.
Coming back from a two-year suspension for involvement in corruption, the Super Kings have now equalled the Mumbai Indians in winning the world’s wealthiest cricket tournament for a third time since it started in 2008.
Dhoni captained Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016 and 2017 before re-uniting with Chennai. While he did not make any announcement over his future, Dhoni is known to want at least one more IPL campaign to stay in contention for India’s team for next year’s World Cup.
Coach Stephen Fleming, who has stayed with Dhoni through his T20 journey at Chennai, Pune and back again, said his team had answered critics who questioned whether they were too old.
“I think we dealt with a lot of adversity really calmly and that comes with leadership,” Fleming said. –