| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
Chennai: Indian Premier League works as a good platform to find and groom talented youngsters, who may go on to play in the national team, according to India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
"I want to make more players for ourselves. We are grooming Indian players from under-19 or players on the verge of making debut for India. All those individuals rubbing their shoulders with international cricketers from India and overseas help them in learning cricketing skills," Dhoni said.
Citing an example, Dhoni said players who made a mark in the first edition went on to play for the country.
"We had Manpreet Goni, Murali Vijay and S Badrinath coming into the side. And Suresh Raina is becoming a great player. We are contributing a lot towards Indian cricket. Overall, we are trying to groom the Indian cricketers for the betterment of the game in India," Dhoni, who leads Chennai Super Kings, said.
Dhoni said that the current rule of having a limited number of foreign players in the side gives them a chance to try youngsters and was in favour of continuing with it.
Dhoni's comments came after coach Stephen Fleming spoke about importance of overseas players doing duty in IPL teams.
"International players coming in to play for different franchisees is important. It is the mix of players that help a team perform well. We have good talented bunch of players from Tamil Nadu in CSK. It is good to have them," Fleming said
Dhoni is happy that players would not have to spend much time on road unlike the second edition.
Dhoni said his side was a balanced one with good batsmen and bowlers.
He said Australia's Michael Hussey's would miss first few matches and would join the squad from April 1 since he will be busy with his national team in New Zealand.
