Dhoni understood long ago that cricket is important but it’s not everything: Zaheer Khan

Ahead of the IPL 2024 which begins on March 22, Zaheer Khan, Suresh Raina and Parthiv Patel spoke about CSK captain MS Dhoni’s strong belief in processes, his interests beyond cricket and his likely successor. 

Parthiv Patel, JioCinema IPL expert, on MS Dhoni’s belief in processes: His processes are like the verse, 'Karm kiye jao, fal ki chinta mat karo'. If you work hard and prepare properly, the results will follow. He keeps his processes simple. He does it himself and tries to impart that to the team. His process mantra is ‘whatever we perfect in practice is what we will replicate in the game’.

Zaheer Khan on Dhoni’s wish that he’d prefer being remembered as a good person more than a good cricketer: When you’re playing, switching off (from the game) is very important. Cricket is not everything. Every cricketer has to face this eventually. When you step away from the game, you may not have a lot of options. We’ve seen many athletes struggle after retiring because they gave everything to the game, and when they left it, they didn’t know what to do. In this sense, MS Dhoni understood a long time ago that he is passionate about cricket and it is an integral part of his life. But it couldn’t be everything. He keeps doing things outside of the sport. For example, his interest in bikes. He’s always researching them.

Also read: IPL 2024: MS Dhoni steals show with helicopter shot during CSK practice session

Suresh Raina on succession planning at CSK: The biggest question is who’ll be their next captain? Even if Dhoni stepped away as captain, he’ll be in the dugout whether it’s as a mental toughness coach or just for his presence. But the question is, who is he going to nurture? This is a pivotal year for CSK. Who does MS have his eyes on? Ruturaj Gaikwad is a good option. This year is a very important year for CSK, more than for MS Dhoni. Because we’ll see who he is going to select as his deputy and probably say: ‘You handle this now, I’ve been looking after the team since 2008. You take care of the yellow, I will wear the jersey and sit in the dressing room’. It's important now to see how he plans for the future. He’s 42 years old. I would love to see him play for five more years, or at least two or three more years.