The thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will throw up many firsts of sorts with the high profile T20 league being played behind empty doors and the players needing to take all requisite precautions with respect to the social distancing norms in the bio-secure bubble to counter the persistent threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The IPL will also mark the return of perhaps the most celebrated and revered stalwart of the league in MS Dhoni, who will play competitive cricket in over a year. Dhoni who announced his retirement from international cricket on India's Independence Day (August 15) last played for the nation in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand back in July 2019.

The die hard Dhoni and CSK fans are eagerly waiting to get a glimpse of their favourite cricketing star don the yellow jersey for the 3-time champions and don the captaincy hat once again for the team.

On Tuesday, Chennai Super Kings shared a still of their skipper MS Dhoni donning the franchise's yellow and blue practice jersey on Twitter.


Dhoni known for his cool and calm demeanor looked absolutely focused as his eyes seemed glued onto the incoming delivery in the nets session. CSK used an apt caption to showcase their skipper's ice cool temperament and captioned the pic: “It’s all in the ice”. The clever wordplay was intended to point at his ice cool demeanour.

The thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will get underway with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on 3-time champs Chennai Super Kings in a blockbuster opening encounter on September 19 in Abu Dhabi.

On September 6, BCCI came out with the schedule for the 13th edition of the IPL. The cash rich T20 league will be played in three cities of the United Arab Emirates; Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.