Age is just a number. Some of the Indian players have proved it with their performances. There is a long list of players like MS Dhoni and Piyush Chawla. Both of them are still active in the Indian Premier League. While Chawla is 35, Dhoni, 43, is also aging like fine wine. Both the players were part of the IPL 2024. Dhoni played for Chennai Super Kings and Chawla played for Mumbai Indians. Although both are close to retiring from the game of cricket, neither Dhoni nor Chawla have shown much interest in the decision.
“Will Piyush Chawla or MS Dhoni retire first?” asked host Shubhankar Mishra on his show.
“Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni),” Chawla replied before laughing.
“A while back, Prithvi Shaw told me 'PC bhai bas karo yaar ab'. I told him that I had played with Sachin paaji and now I was playing with his son. I was playing with you and after playing with your son, I will retire,” the veteran Indian bowler added.
Chawala made his debut for India in 2007. Apart from being MS Dhoni's teammate in India, Chawala was also a member of the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup-winning teams. Notably, Dhoni captained the team in both events.
Dhoni ended his international career in 2020 but the out-of-favour Chawla has not made any formal announcement regarding his retirement.
In another interview, Dhoni's former India teammate Mohammed Shami revealed the player's retirement strategy.
“You (media) have been putting a question mark on his future. The man himself says, 'Dekha Jayega' (let's see),” Shami had said on Shubhankar Mishra's YouTube channel.
“I had a conversation with Mahi Bhai and asked him when a player should retire. He replied: first, when you get bored and second, when you realise that you will be kicked out of the team.”
“But the first and foremost thing is that when you stop enjoying the game, it is a sign that your time has come. You better choose the best time to retire. Because your body starts warning you if you cannot sustain a particular format. That is when a player has to say enough,” Shami added.
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