Amid the growing speculations of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday, the Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) wicketkeeper-batsman finally breaks his silence over the rumours. In a most recent podcast with Raj Shamani, Dhoni cleared his stance on the retirement rumours.
Dhoni, who is 43 years old, extensively spoke about his health, his age and what the next steps in his career will be. Moreover, this is not the first time that fans have speculated about Dhoni's retirement; every year, fans speculate about the 'Thala's' retirement, but have never heard back from Dhoni himself.
The retirement rumours mostly started circulating after Dhoni's performances started hitting a new low, particularly from the batting standpoint. The reasons make fans think that it is likely to be his last IPL.
During the podcast, the 43-year-old batsman said he is not going to make up his mind about prolonging his playing career anytime soon. He said that after the 18th edition of the IPL concludes in May, he is keen to use the next 10 months to decide what exactly he wants to do next year.
He said on Raj Shamani's podcast, "I am still playing the IPL and one year at a time. I am 43; by the end of this IPL season, I will be 44 in July. So I have 10 months to decide whether I want to play one more year, and it's not me deciding; it's my body whether you can play or not."
Dhoni has impressed his fans with his excellent wicketkeeping abilities and fitness. He has again proved that he is as sharp as ever, while his reflexes have shown no signs of a decline, but it's with the bat that Dhoni has struggled.