The thought of playing under MS Dhoni excites me: Shane Watson

Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson is eagerly waiting for the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League. The hard-hitting all-rounder has had great success in the tournament over the years. This year, he will be playing for the Chennai Super Kings in the tournament. Watson was roped in by the CSK camp at the IPL 2018 auctions. Recently, Shane Watson opened up about his expectations from the tournament this year.

He looked absolutely pumped about the prospect of playing under ‘great’ MS Dhoni. He cited that the CSK franchise has been one of the most successful sides in the tournament history. MS Dhoni successfully led the CSK franchise to the playoffs of every single edition of the tournament they played in.

“It is going to be a real honour to play for such a great franchise with the history that the Chennai Super Kings have, and the thought of playing under the great Mahendra Singh Dhoni excites me a lot,” Shane Watson was quoted as saying by the CSK website.

‘Will be little odd settling in’

From the first edition of the tournament to the 2015 edition, Shane Watson served the Rajasthan Royals. He was with the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the previous two editions. Watson feels it will be a little odd in the CSK camp initially since the Royals and the Super Kings have been firm rivals in the tournament history.

“It is going to be a little strange initially as CSK were one of Rajasthan’s big rivals which started way back in the first year of the IPL. But it won’t take that long to subside. Any CSK squad with Dhoni, (Suresh) Raina and (Ravindra) Jadeja as a starting point is going to be incredibly good and is always going to compare really well to the previous years,” mentioned Watson.

Hunger to play

It was from the IPL that Shane Watson had reinstated his claims in the Australian national side a decade now. Now that he has retired from international cricket, it will be interesting to see how he fares up. Watson, commenting on his hunger for the game, noted that he still loves playing the game and that keeps him motivated.

“I still absolutely love playing the game, which is an easy motivation in itself. I still love the thrill of the unknown of every game and I am extremely competitive and so I have no problem with motivation at all for each game,” he added.

For the latest cricket news, follow CricTracker.