Shane Watson thanks MS Dhoni for not dropping him despite bad performances in IPL 2020

Shane Watson thanks MS Dhoni for not dropping him despite bad performances in IPL 2020
MS Dhoni and Shane Watson

Shane Watson recently announced his retirement from all formats of cricket. His IPL team, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has not been able to qualify for the playoffs in the ongoing IPL 2020.

CSK’s run in the 2020 IPL was shockingly poor. This is the first time in their 11-year history where they haven’t qualified for the playoffs. Since most of the key players of team were seniors, there were doubts about their return in 2021 edition.

Although, MS Dhoni and Faf Du Plesis have made it clear that they would be featuring next year, Watson has called it quits on his illustrious 18-year old career.

While discussing about his 3 year stint with CSK, Watson specified the one thing he found different with this franchise was trust shown in him by skipper MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming.

He said, that despite not giving good performances in the 2019 season, he was not dropped from the Playinng XI. He applauded the captain-coach duo for their trust in him.

“That you go 10 games without scoring runs and still get picked (laughs). Last season, thank you MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming for keeping the faith. That was phenomenal and made me feel that good to go, a bit a block would not stop me,” He said while in a conversation with presenter, Rupha Ramani.

Shane Watson came to know about Dhoni’s impact after watching his documentary

MS Dhoni documentary

Shane Watson revealed that he came to know about Dhoni’s impact on cricket and the Indian people after watching his documentary in a flight. He also mentioned that Dhoni’s standout quality for him was the latter’s ability to simplify complex situations.

“Sitting on a plain and there is a TV screen in front of me showing documentary on MS. I remember watching his documentary and I did not know the extent of the impact he has on Indian cricket and especially Indian public in general. When he has his long hair and then he cut it off, around about that time. The thing that stands out to me, after getting to know him in the last 3 years is how easily he simplifies a complex situation,” he said.

Watson hails the CSK fans’ roar

Shane Watson
Shane Watson

Recently, MS Dhoni applauded the fans of CSK. The ‘Thala’ as they call him had said that the fans of CSK were “different” because they knew their cricket. Now Shane Watson has reiterated Dhoni’s thoughts.

“It’s seems like there must be a billion people living in Chennai because there seems to be like billion CSK supporters. Even travelling in other parts of India was like half of the stadium was full of CSK fans, which is an incredible part to be part of. There are not many things where this happens at all,” he said.

Shane Watson ended his IPL career with a whopping 3874 runs and 92 wickets. He started the League with Rajasthan Royals and winning the first IPL victory cup back in 2008. He had scored 472 runs and picked up 17 wickets in that season.

After spending 7 successful years with the Royals, Watson moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He didn’t find much success there. Then CSK happened for him. He smashed 117 runs of 57 to help CSK clinch their 3rd IPL title in 2018.

The 2019 season was forgetful but Watson was lauded for hitting a valiant 80 with a bloodied knee. His efforts didn’t find fruition as CSK lost the final to Mumbai Indians (MI) by 1 run.

Watson scored 299 runs from 11 matches in IPL 2020. The third highest run scorer for CSK in the season, also hit two fifties.

Also Read: Australian all-rounder Shane Watson announces retirement from all forms of cricket