The former Indian World Cup-winning captain and the leader of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), MS Dhoni, is yet to confirm whether he wants to get retained for the new 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), having already handed over the captaincy to their young batter of the side, Ruturaj Gaikwad.
The IPL Governing Council (GC) has announced the new rule where each of the ten franchises will be allowed to retain six of their players from the last season, with the first and fourth player being at a price of INR 18 crore, while the second and fourth player can be bagged for INR 14 crore. The third player has a price of INR 11 crore.
In the case of the uncapped player that the team wants to have, if that individual hasn’t played for India for the five years going into that particular season, then he can be addressed uncapped and bought for a price of INR 4 crore. MS Dhoni, whose last international game for the Blue Brigade came in July 2019, sits in the same bracket.
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The wicket-keeper batter has been the face of the franchise since the start of the league. MS Dhoni, who will turn 44 by the time the next IPL begins, tried to find a new captain of the franchise in the 2022 season by handing over the responsibility to Ravindra Jadeja, but the plan didn’t work out well for them.
The Ranchi-born returned to the position for the 2023 season and delivered the Yellow Army their fifth tile, which now has joined them with the Mumbai Indians as the joint most successful franchise in the tournament.
MS Dhoni to meet CSK team management on October 29 or 30
The Whistle Podu army will take a call on the retention after meeting with the former captain. A close source, in the past, revealed that the CSK management approached MS Dhoni for a meeting, who is not available till October 28, which is why the officials expected to meet him either on the 29th or the 30th before finalizing the retentions.
The right-handed batter is the sixth-highest run-getter of the competition and the second leading run-scorer for the franchise with 5243 runs in 229 innings at an average of around 40 and a strike rate of little over 137, with the help of 24 half-centuries and a best score of unbeaten 84 runs.
A few days ago, the CEO of the Super Kings, Kasi Viswanathan, sent the message that they are expecting to give the final verdict on or before October 31.
“We also want MS Dhoni to play in the CSK team. But Dhoni has not confirmed it to us yet. Dhoni said, ‘I will tell you before October 31. ‘We hope that he will play.” Kasi expressed during an event.
The two confirmed retention for the camp is Ruturaj Gaikwad, their captain, who was the second highest run-getter of the franchise in the IPL 2024 with 583 runs in 14 innings at an average of 53 and a strike rate of over 140, with the help of four half-centuries and one century.
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Ravindra Jadeja is another premier all-rounder who is guaranteed a place in the franchise besides, which they will discuss Shivam Dube and the two overseas players, Rachin Ravindra and Matheesha Pathirana.
But the speculation and the talk of the town is whether their Thala MS Dhoni will be prepared to again pad up, and walk into the middle amidst the joyous emotions of Chennai.