'MS Dhoni 100 Per Cent Playing': CSK CEO Claims Their Captain is Available For IPL 2023 Opener vs GT

Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan has confirmed MS Dhoni’s availability for the crucial Indian Premier League 2023 opening match against Gujarat Titans on Friday at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Dhoni sustained a slight niggle on his left knee which raised doubts over his availability for the season opener and a report in Indian Express suggested that the CSK management didn’t want to take any risk with the injury.

The 41-year-old wicketkeeper batter has apparently sustained a niggle on his left knee during a training session in Chennai and didn’t bat at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera during CSK’s nets on Thursday.

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Meanwhile, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan confirmed that Dhoni will be playing the season opener without any doubt.

“As far as I am concerned, the skipper is 100 percent playing. I don’t know about any other development," he told PTI.

In case Dhoni doesn’t play, CSK then might ask one among Devon Conway or Ambati Rayudu to keep wickets, as they don’t have any specialised stumper in their ranks.

The legendary captain was also seen talking to Gujarat Titans mentor and former India head coach Gary Kirsten during the training session. The fans were elated after seeing the pillars of India’s historic 2011 ODI World Cup together after a long time.

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Earlier, Dhoni also felt the same discomfort during Chennai Super Kings’ practice match at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday. He didn’t keep the gloves during the warm-up match. However, he trained in Chennai for weeks to get himself ready for the mega tournament.

Dhoni does a lot of pre-season training, but in order to conserve energy, he normally doesn’t train a lot when the tournament starts.

At his age, it doesn’t take much time for any niggle to aggravate and become more serious, taking more time than usual to heal.

With so much of travelling and back-to-back matches, there remains a possibility that Dhoni wouldn’t like to risk playing and missing more matches in the latter stages of the tournament.

However, the Jharkhand dasher is not known to miss matches and has managed to play through a lot of niggles, including back problems.

(With PTI Inputs)

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