MS Dhoni has expressed his gratitude for the support he gets from supporters and fans. The 43-year-old also stated that the rivalry between CSK and MI does not affect his performance at a personal level, adding that he feels it is important to win matches irrespective of the opponent.
Dhoni also said that India is the best place to play cricket and claimed IPL to be the biggest thing after international cricket.
“Being part of the Indian cricket team is one of the biggest things. I’m not playing international cricket, so IPL is the next best thing that can happen,” the former CSK skipper told JioHotstar.
The star player admitted that is an “amazing feeling” to get support from the fans of the opposition teams.
“Whenever you walk in, everybody is very excited, they’re waiting for you, they want you to do well—even at times when you’re playing against the team that they want to win, but they still want you to perform, contribute a bit, whatever it may be. It’s an amazing feeling,” added Dhoni.
Franchise rivalries are good for the IPL: MS Dhoni
When asked if the rivalry between CSK and MI affects his performance, Dhoni said that his focus has always been to perform against every opponent as performing against a certain opponent would not give his team extra points. However, he claimed such rivalries are good for IPL as a tournament.
“As a batter, I want to perform against all teams. The team I am batting against—what does the team want from me? According to that, you try to bat and perform. I don’t think so there is any rivalry. I don’t pick teams as personal or franchise rivalries because it just adds extra pressure on you.
“At the end of the day, if you play against any franchise and win, you get the same points. Of course, depending on where they are positioned on the table that point may matter slightly more. But your view needs to be the same. You want to keep performing and do well against each and every team. For me personally, the opposition doesn’t matter. Winning the game matters.
“That’s the case whether it’s Mumbai or any other franchise. But yes, it’s a talking point. People like to talk about rivalries, and it’s good for the IPL as a whole. When you successfully create a rivalry between two franchises, it becomes like a derby game—where A vs B is always a big match. You can talk about it, use the stats, look at the past. We’ve been playing IPL since 2008, so we have a lot of stats,” he said.
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