Watson: Excited at thought of playing under ‘great’ Dhoni

The Australian cricketer previously turned out for Rajasthan Royals (RR) between 2008 and 2015 and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the last two seasons.

Shane Watson said he still loved playing the game and was motivated for each game. (File Photo)

Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson on Monday said it will be a real honour to play for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL while stating that the thought of playing under the ‘great’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni excited him a lot.

“It is going to be a real honour 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,” Watson was quoted as saying by the CSK website.

The Australian cricketer, who previously turned out for Rajasthan Royals (RR) between 2008 and 2015 and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the last two seasons, said it will be a little strange initially as CSK was one of Rajasthan’s big rivals.

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“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,” said Watson,who did well for Sydney Thunder in the recent Big Bash League (in Australia).

The 36-year-old, who retired from international cricket in March 2016, said he still loved playing the game and was motivated for each game.

“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,” he added.

The burly Australian said the CSK squad with the likes of Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja will compare really well to the previous years.

“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,” the Queensland-born cricketer said.

CSK has won the IPL twice, finished runners-up on four occasions and qualified for the playoffs in every season between 2008 and 2015 to emerge as one of the most successful franchises in the competition.

Watson has so far played 102 games in the IPL, scoring 2,622 runs at a strike rate of 138.65 and claimed 86 wickets at an average of 21.63.