MS Dhoni may or may not be back for CSK next season - enjoy him while you can

Whenever Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have played this season, two narratives have run concurrently - one, around how far they will go in the tournament and the other around how long MS Dhoni, their beloved Thala, will keep turning out for CSK.

Fifteen games in, everyone knows that CSK will be contesting the game that matters in Ahmedabad. Two months and countless post-match presentations bits into the IPL, though, no one knows if Dhoni will be around next season.

Dhoni has kept fans guessing on whether he will play for CSK next season

He has kept people guessing and has dared them to dig deep into the slightest hints and signs on a cricket field to come to a conclusion. But if you have lived, loved and of course, adored his storied career, this should not be new, and it is definitely not a crime to not know what the great man's next move is.

After all, this is a guy who woke up in the UAE one fine day, used the momentous occasion of Independence Day, produced a carefully-crafted (and possibly hand-picked) Instagram video and said goodbye to the international games. All that fanfare, all those runs, all those finishes, all those trophies, all magic and pfft...done via a social media post.

Similarly, he gave up Test captaincy in the middle of a series away to Australia, knowing that the time was right for him to hand over the reins to someone lesser burdened by incessant overseas defeats.

A few years later, Dhoni, alongside the Jharkhand state team, was in Nagpur one morning. Those who could get close to the then-India white-ball skipper, bombarded him with autograph and photographs requests. By the time that day was done, he was no longer India's limited-overs captain.

So, this is the precedent. Do not be surprised if Dhoni, while riding a tractor in one of his massive, multi-acre farms, thinks that he might have given everything he could have as a player to CSK.

That will not be in the middle of a gruelling IPL campaign, and no one, apart from the veteran, will have a clue about it. But that is exactly how it might transpire, for Dhoni has, historically, shown that he does not believe in too much grandstanding.

He knows what role he has played in CSK becoming what it is today but he also acknowledges that when the time is right, the baton needs to be passed, and has to be done so in trademark Dhoni fashion – with the minimal of fuss.

As fans, though, this entire sequence must be pretty much a rollercoaster. They do not know if their hero and Thala would be back next season. Yet, they paint each venue he visits yellow, often overshadowing the home support and making it feel as if it was another game at Chepauk.

Grounds such as the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the Eden Gardens and the Wankhede Stadium, where Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) usually receive vociferous support, were powerless as CSK fever gripped the venue, and to an extent, the city.

It is not very dissimilar to the kind of role he has taken up for himself this IPL season too. Admittedly, he is struggling with a knee injury, which, for a 41-year-old, who has done as many squats behind the stumps as anyone in the last 20 years, is okay.

So, he keeps delaying his entry points, indulging in a game of high-stakes poker by not letting the opposition know what he has in his mind.

What ties these two things together, though, is the anticipation. Almost everyone who has watched cricket knows that this is not Dhoni in his prime. He will not hurtle across the turf like a cheetah anymore and he will not come out to bat when seven to eight overs are left (unless forced to). But one thing that he has gotten going for himself this season, is his ability to clear the fence and hit boundaries.

And that…..brings hope – hope that when he is at the crease, things will be alright. Very few cricketers, over the years, have developed that sort of rapport and bond with the cricket-watching folk.

As long as Dhoni is there, anything and everything could happen. That this conversation is around a 41-year-old, who many thought should not have been playing this season either, tells you all you should know about his greatness, and of course, his legacy.

So, here we are. One game away from what could possibly be Dhoni’s last professional cricket appearance. It might be an occasion to shed tears, for he is a generational cricketer – oh, of that, there is no doubt.

It could also be the time to grow anxious and try to guess if he will be around next season for CSK. But it is most certainly the right moment to just enjoy, and celebrate what he has done, over all these years.

After the game against the Gujarat Titans (GT), that is exactly what Dhoni alluded to. While saying the decision has not been made, he also quipped he did not want to take the headache of when his impending retirement will happen - in the middle of another superb IPL season.

Maybe that is what Dhoni wants all of his fans to do as well. He, being the ultimate realist, knows that he cannot keep on playing for CSK, and he, deep down, knows that he is not as fit as he once was. But Dhoni and CSK, at the end of the day, are all about being in the present.

And that, at the minute, is about relishing every little glimpse of him that people can catch from a hundred miles away at the ground, or from a few more thousand miles away in front of their television sets. It is about enjoying every little rabbit he pulls out of the bag, and not worrying about who might do that once he is gone.

With Dhoni, it has always been about the hope and the anticipation. But now, in his last leg as a professional cricketer, it should be about cherishing whatever is left of him.

Enjoy it while you can!