The stage is set for another cracking edition of the glitzy Indian Premier League.
With the clock ticking down fast for the campaign opener, in a snippet posted by Star Sports on the social media handle X, the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni opened up about his key takeaways from the league.
Rewinding the clock to the maiden edition -- the 2008 season -- Dhoni said the then Chennai Super Kings side was a very balanced team. He has led the Chennai side from the inaugural edition, winning five IPL trophies.
'If you look at the 2008 Chennai team, it was a very balanced team. There were a lot of all-rounders and experienced players.
'The team had players such as Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini, Jacob Oram. They were a lot of experienced players and to get them together in one dressing room and get to know each other was a challenge.
'I always believed that when you're leading a team, you need to understand each other well, not just in passing. Once you know an individual well, you know his strength, his weaknesses, it becomes easier to guide the team in the correct direction,' Dhoni told Star Sports.
'IPL gave me an opportunity to understand a lot of foreign players.
'Usually when we play international cricket, I'm not somebody who talks a lot to the opposition players.
'But IPL gave us an opportunity to know about other players, to know what they think about cricket, to know their culture.
'All of that made IPL very interesting, that sharing of knowledge that you had.'
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings begins its 2024 campaign against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on March 22.
