NEW DELHI: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni underwent successful knee surgery at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Hospital on Thursday.
The surgery was performed by renowned sports orthopaedic surgeon Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, who is also part of the BCCI medical panel and has previously operated on top Indian cricketers like Rishabh Pant.
According to a source from CSK, Dhoni is recovering well and is expected to be discharged in a day or two. Following the surgery, the former Indian skipper will undergo an extensive period of rest before beginning rehabilitation. This timeline allows him sufficient time to regain fitness for the next Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Throughout the recently concluded IPL season, Dhoni played with a heavily strapped left knee. While he appeared comfortable behind the stumps, his batting position was often lower down the order, and his running between the wickets seemed slower than usual. Despite these challenges, Dhoni expressed his intention to return for at least one more season, provided his body allows it, as a gesture to the fans.
In a post-match interview, Dhoni contemplated retirement but emphasised his desire to work hard for another nine months and play another IPL season. He expressed gratitude for the immense love and support he has received from CSK fans and considered it a gift to play one more season for them.
“If you circumstantially see, it’s the best time to announce retirement.” Dhoni had said after leading his side to a record-equalling fifth IPL title. “The easy thing for me to say is thank you and retire. But the hard thing to do is to work hard for nine months and try to play one more IPL season. The body has to hold up. But with the amount of love I have received from CSK fans, it would be a gift for them to play one more season,” he had said.
“The way they’ve shown their love and emotion, it’s something I need to do for them. It’s the last part of my career. It started over here and the full house was chanting my name. It was the same thing in Chennai, but it will be good to come back and play whatever I can. The kind of cricket I play, they feel they can play that cricket. There’s nothing orthodox about it and I like to keep it simple,” he added.
CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan recently stated that Dhoni would have the final say on his participation in the next season. The team is not currently considering any alternatives and is fully supportive of Dhoni’s decision. If Dhoni decides to play, CSK will retain him as captain, and there will be no discussions about freeing up the purse of ₹15 crores for the upcoming mini-auction.
“Frankly, we are not even thinking along those lines as we haven’t reached that stage,” Viswanathan had said. “It will be completely Dhoni’s call. But I can tell you, in CSK, we haven’t entertained those thoughts.”