It was bound to happen but, until it happened, the final verdict wasn’t able to be given. Now, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) can start to look ahead as their face of the brand, MS Dhoni, the former captain of the franchise, has cleared the air over his participation in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The IPL Governing Council (GC) announced a few weeks ago that every franchise can retain six players for the next tournament via retention or using the right-to-match (RTM) card. But, there was a twist in the tale as many thought that the uncapped player rule had been structured to keep MS Dhoni in the hunt for the next edition of the event.
If an Indian player hasn’t been part of the national side for five or more years going into the respective season of the competition, then they can be put in the same bracket of the uncapped category as they will cut a price of INR 4 crore from the purse.
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But there was no guarantee of MS Dhoni staying for one more season in the tournament, despite all of these changes, as the CEO of the Super Kings, Kasi Viswanathan, highlighted that they had been waiting for a long time to get the nod from the veteran by October 28.
Final verdict of MS Dhoni on IPL 2025 participation makes CSK relieved
The wicket-keeper batter is the soul of the franchise, having led them to five titles in 15 seasons of the event. But in 2022, he tried to hand over the captaincy to the premier all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, only to take it back in the middle of the event.
Having won the following season to shoulder Mumbai Indians, the Ranchi-born provided the leadership duties to Ruturaj Gaikwad on the eve of the last season. This is where many speculated that MS Dhoni might have addressed 2024 as his last IPL season.
“When he is ready, what else (do) we want? We are happy.” The CEO of the CSK franchise expressed to Cricbuzz on October 26 that his assertion came a day after the former leader informed his desire to enjoy his game more in the last few years of his career.
“I just want to enjoy whatever last few years of cricket I can play. When you play cricket like a professional sport, it becomes difficult to enjoy it just like a game. That’s what I want to do. It’s not easy.” MS Dhoni recently said during a ceremony, as quoted by the Times of India.
The 43-year-old is the fifth-highest run-getter of the franchise with 5118 runs in 225 innings at an average of 39.06 and a strike rate of nearly 140, with the help of 23 half-centuries at a best score of unbeaten 84 runs.
“The emotions keep coming, the commitments are there. I want to enjoy the game for the next few years. I have to keep myself fit for nine months so that I can play two and a half months of IPL. You need to plan it out, but at the same time, chill a bit.” MS Dhoni elaborated.
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It’s given that Jadeja is going to be their first retention, followed by Gaikwad, while their product, Matheesha Pathirana, is believed to be the third retained player. In the case of the uncapped player, Sameer Rizvi could be an option, while the toss-up for the sixth player is between Shivam Dube and Devon Conway.
MS Dhoni and the franchise owner, N Srinivasan, will be meeting in the coming days to finalize the list of retained players before the deadline on October 31.