Dhoni turns trash into treasure, says Hayden

NEW DELHI: MS Dhoni is a “magician” who can “turn someone else’s trash into treasure”, according to the legendary Australian Matthew Hayden, who also reckons that the former India captain’s unmatched contribution to the success of Chennai Super Kings makes his playing future with the franchise almost irrelevant.

Dhoni’s tactical genius has played a big part in CSK reaching its 10th IPL final. He did not have the best of bowling attacks at his disposal at the start of the tournament, but has been able to bring the best out of it. How he has used Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube in the batting department has also been praised widely.

Dhoni, who has played with a knee injury throughout IPL 2023, has given himself eight-nine months to decide on his playing future. “MS is a magician. He takes someone else’s trash and makes them treasure. He is a very skilful and positive captain. He said something really interesting which I thought summed up not only his humility and his truth around cricket where he is represented and that is in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA),” Hayden told PTI.

“The alignment between the association and the franchise, how strong that is in terms of building that process. To me, that is MS. There is a systematic way of going through things and working through them. He did that for India and he is doing it for CSK. Whether he plays or not next year, it is almost irrelevant. Personally, I do not think he will but then, he is MS Dhoni,” Hayden said at an event organised by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).