Southampton: Former Australian spinner Shane Warne has offered Mahendra Singh Dhoni to play for his side London Spirit in The Hundred tournament next year. Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on Saturday (August 15). Yet, Captain cool will be seen in action next month in IPL 2020 playing for CSK which was scheduled to be held in the UAE from September 19.
Just after, the announcement of MSD’s retirement Shane, the head of London Spirit offered him with this invitation to join his team in the 100-balls per-side tournament, which was earlier scheduled to be held in June this year, but it got postponed due to the rising COVID-19 pandemic.
Congrats to @msdhoni on a wonderful cricketing career ! Was a pleasure watching you play & the way you led your troops too. Good luck with everything you choose to do in the future ! Absolute legend 👍
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) August 15, 2020
“I just wonder if I could get him down to the London Spirit next year for The Hundred. I might put out a call to see if he wants to play at Lord’s. I’ll find the money, MS!” Warne was quoted as saying to Sky Sports during his commentary duties for England’s 2nd Test against Pakistan.
Warner applauded Dhoni and paid a tribute to him. He pointed out CSK’s majestic record in IPL under Dhoni’s captaincy. “In T20 cricket, especially, the best captains, their teams will be in and around the finals all the time – it’s so key in T20 cricket – and Chennai have won (the IPL) three times,” Warne said.
“A terrific cricketer. You think back to some of the games that he won for India, off his own back. And you think of his captaincy, his leadership, he was a terrific competitor and a wonderful player. He will go down in history as one of the all-time great wicketkeeper-batsmen.”
“He had a calmness about him that was fantastic and he always got the best out of his team, whether it was India, Chennai Super Kings, whoever it was. His players really respected him and responded to the way Dhoni wanted to play the game,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, former England stars Naseer Hussain and Pakistani legend Wasim Akram also paid their tributes to Dhoni. “The ‘best white-ball captain’ and a ‘great finisher’ and also a cool, calm customer under pressure; a great finisher of a game, the game wasn’t won until you got Dhoni out. That is a good combination when you’re a great captain, cool and calm under pressure,” Hussain said.
“When a player retires, what do people remember about that player? Not the average or the numbers but how they played the game and the iconic moments that they were involved in,” Atherton said in the commentary box for Sky Sports during the second Test between England and Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl.
“I would remember the hitting of that six at the Wankhede Stadium to win that World Cup in 2011. What a fabulous player he was.” “I saw him when he started his cricketing career, his first tour to Pakistan (in 2006), he became a mega-hit because of his long hair, his batting – he got runs on that tour (a maiden Test hundred),” Akram said.
“As a skipper, I always thought he was very calm, no matter the situation. And when you’re calm as a captain, you make the right decisions. If you panic, the whole team panics and Dhoni wasn’t one of them. He was a treat to watch, as long as he was not playing against Pakistan.”
