'Dhoni Se Pehle Bhi Cricket Hoti Thi Aur...': Kapil Dev On IPL Without MS Dhoni

Discussions on MS Dhoni's retirement have intensified as many are predicting that the veteran decided to leave CSK's captaincy because he is planning to quit cricket entirely at the end of IPL 2022. 

MS Dhoni and Kapil Dev

New Delhi: Speculations over MS Dhoni's retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) after this year gained momentum as soon as the 40-year-old announced about stepping down as Chennai Super Kings' skipper to hand over the captaincy to senior all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

Fans and cricket pundits took to social media to opine that it won't be the same CSK without Dhoni as captain or it won't be the same IPL anymore without Virat Kohli as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain. This raises the question: Are we a country that worships its sporting icons?

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1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, one of the best sporting minds in the country, shared his views on the same and said," I think you have to have icons to follow them. If you don't have an icon it's very difficult for the youngsters to follow and once you make an icon, then you say they are drifting. I believe the youngsters will come out and start picking their new heroes. In our time Sunil Gavaskar was our hero, we used to look up to him. Years back you would have said the same thing for Sunny, then for Sachin Tendulkar. But then Virat comes in, Rohit comes in. I feel it's important you keep producing champions. If you see youngsters today, they want to throw javelin because we have a hero out there.

"Dhoni se pehle bhi cricket thoti hi, Dhoni ke baad bhi cricket hogi (cricket was there before Dhoni, cricket will be there after Dhoni). New hero will come and take his place and the youngsters will come out and follow him," the veteran said during the ABP Ideas of India event.

Discussions on Dhoni's retirement have intensified as many are predicting that the veteran decided to leave CSK's captaincy because he is planning to quit cricket entirely at the end of IPL 2022. 

In the IPL 2008 auction, Chennai Super Kings had acquired MS Dhoni -- the man who had just led team India to victory in the T20 World Cup. Under his captaincy, CSK won a record 121 out of 204 matches in the IPL.