Since the rules around the retention of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the 2025 season were declared, speculation has been focused on MS Dhoni, the former captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who has yet to respond on whether he will stay with the franchise for future editions.
The discussion started when MS Dhoni handed over the captaincy of the franchise to their young opening batter, Ruturaj Gaikwad, on the eve of the team. Under the leader of Maharashtra, the franchise did a decent job in the entire event but still failed to qualify for the tournament playoffs.
The mega auction of the 2025 season will allow the franchise to retain its players for the next three to four seasons, and the World Cup-winning former Indian captain, who will be nearly 44 by the fag end of the next season, may not get fit for the following editions of the tournament.
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MS Dhoni has been the sixth leading run-getter of the competition and the second top run-getter of the franchise with 5243 runs in 229 innings at an average of around 40 with a strike rate of over 137, shouldering on 24 half-centuries and a best score of unbeaten 84 runs.
Kasi Viswanathan to declare the retention of MS Dhoni before October 31
The IPL Governing Council (GC) modified the rule of the uncapped player for the new season, where they stated that an Indian player who hasn’t featured for the national side for five long years going into the respective season could be addressed as an uncapped player, whose price for the retention will be just INR 4 crore.
MS Dhoni, in that scenario, featured of India in July 2019 during the semifinal of the ODI World Cup and can come under this department. But the question is if he would want to get retained, having hinted that the 2024 season would be his last, but the failure of CSK to reach the playoffs could lead him to change his plans.
Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan has revealed the message from the veteran regarding their retention. He wants their former captain to play at least one more season of the IPL before he calls time on. But, October 31, the deadline for the retention for all the franchises could spill the beans of the future of the wicket-keeper batter.
“We also want 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 said at an event, as quoted by Sports Vikatan.
The Yellow Army is surely going to retain their captain Gaikwad, and the premier Indian spin all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja, as the first two players. They could have a look at either the bashing all-rounder Shivam Dube or the Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who has been a successful member of the side at the death phase in the last two years.
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MS Dhoni, who played the previous season of the tournament with a knee niggle, basically focused on contributing with the cameo roles coming lower down the order. In 14 games, he smashed 161 runs at a strike rate of 220.
The Rachi-born, in the past, has informed his desire to play his last game of the tournament in Chennai, which they could last season due to not qualifying for the final. But, he also highlighted that his final decision will depend on the auction strategies and the balance of the side.