IPL 2018 | Thought of playing under 'great' MS Dhoni excites me, claims Shane Watson

IPL 2018 | Thought of playing under 'great' MS Dhoni excites me, claims Shane Watson

no photo

|

getty images

Shane Watson has asserted that he is excited by the thought of playing under MS Dhoni in the 2018 Indian Premier League after he was bought by the Chennai Super Kings for a meager 4 crores. He also said that donning the CSK jersey will be strange due to their rivalry with Rajasthan Royals.

After spending eight years of IPL with Rajasthan Royals and two years with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Shane Watson is going to don a familiar color of the jersey, that will be yellow, not of Australia but of Chennai Super Kings. After the two-time champions purchased him in the auction, Watson will now get to play under the captaincy of The IPL’s most experienced captain MS Dhoni who enjoys a winning percentage of 58.45 percent in the 143 matches.

The Australian allrounder took to the CSK website and said, “It is going to be a real honor to play for such a great franchise with the history that the Chennai Super Kings have, and the thought of playing under the great Mahendra Singh Dhoni excites me a lot.”

Not only did CSK and RR contest the first IPL final way back in 2008, the duo also had to spend two years away from the league due to the suspension they received for their involvement of the 2013 scandal. Rajasthan Royals’ biggest rivalries, as these two teams have met a total of 16 times in the years gone by. Talking about the rivalry, Watson said that it would be strange for him to don the yellow jersey.

“It is going to be a little strange initially as CSK were one of Rajasthan’s big rivals which started way back in the first year of the IPL. But it won’t take that long to subside.”

Though Shane Watson retired from International cricket in March 2016, he has been playing on the domestic circuit for the Sydney Thunder for the past three years in the Big Bash League.

“I still absolutely love playing the game, which is an easy motivation in itself. I still love the thrill of the unknown of every game and I am extremely competitive and so I have no problem with motivation at all for each game,” said the 36-year-old.

Chennai Super Kings have been in the finals on 6 occasions of the IPL and have managed to clinch the title twice. The core of the team has been Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja who have been instrumental in making CSK a successful team over the years and on their return to the league, CSK decided to stick with the tried and tested core. 

“Any CSK squad with Dhoni, (Suresh) Raina and (Ravindra) Jadeja as a starting point is going to be incredibly good and is always going to compare really well to the previous years,” said the Australian.

Watson has been the most successful foreign all-rounder to play in IPL as he has managed to score 2,431 runs at a strike rate of 138.65 which includes 4 centuries and has claimed 86 wickets at an average of 21.63 in 102 appearances over the ten seasons.  His experience will be key of CSK want to make it to the playoffs this time around.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all