Watch: MS Dhoni receives grand welcome in Chennai ahead of the Indian T20 League

The skipper of the Chennai franchise, Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrived in Chennai on Thursday for the preparation of the upcoming season of the Indian T20 League. He received a rousing welcome at the Chennai airport with flowers showered on him and the dholaks and fans waiting in the airport to see his glimpse.

This is considered to be the last outing of Dhoni for the Chennai franchise and fans are expecting him to finish his cricketing career on a high note. Chennai is scheduled to play the opening match of the tournament against Gujarat on March 31 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad

Watch the video:

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Former Chennai player Matthew Hayden said that Dhoni’s performance will be crucial for both the team as well as the fans this year. He also talked about the reception Dhoni will receive when he will walk onto the field at the Cheapauk stadium after three years.

“It will be an amazing moment. I think last year, we were all under the impression that will MSD come back again. At the close of the IPL season, he made that huge comment to say that he will be back. Now, what that means for all that Yellow Army is that Chennai suddenly galvanized a tad around the superior leader, who has done it for so long. This will, most certainly, I think, be the close of his IPL career. So, those few games at the start are not only going to be key for the fans, his performance is going to be key for CSK this season,” said Hayden while talking to Star Sports.

Ben Stokes to be Dhoni’s deputy!

Chennai also roped in the England all-rounder Ben Stokes in the 2023 auction for INR 16.25 crore. Stokes is expected to replace Dhoni as the captain of the franchise in the near future. Although, Stokes will miss the final few games for Chennai in the upcoming season in order to prepare for the Ashes.

Chennai squad for the Indian T20 League 2023:
MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Kyle Jamieson, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma.