One of the several inquiries that surfaced prior to and during the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) was if MS Dhoni will be playing in his last season. After guiding Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to the 2023 IPL championship, Dhoni had declared that he would return the following year to give back to the nation’s supporters who had shown him so much love throughout that season.
But Dhoni’s exit from the 2024 Indian Premier League was not amicable. For the third time in their IPL history, CSK was eliminated from the playoffs at the conclusion of it all. They lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their final game of the season, which cost them the playoff berth they had clung to for the most of the second half of the campaign. To qualify, RCB had to defeat CSK by a minimum of eighteen runs, and they succeeded.
Dhoni hasn’t been seen much since leaving the field without exchanging high fives with the RCB teammates. But according to CSK CEO Kasi Viswanath, the team hopes that Dhoni will be available for CSK in the upcoming season. In response to a query about if 2024 was Dhoni’s final season, Viswanathan stated, “I do not know,” in a video posted on the CSK YouTube account. “Only MS is qualified to respond to that question. The answer is that we have always accepted MS’s judgments and have left it to him,” the man stated.
Prior to the 2024 season commencing, Dhoni relinquished his captaincy of CSK to Ruturaj Gaikwad. This also meant that, in contrast to the previous two years, when he was often questioned by broadcasters about his retirement at the conclusion of CSK’s campaign, the 42-year-old did not participate in any interviews throughout the season. According to Viswanath, the team believes Dhoni to make the decision about his career, just as he did when to resign as captain.
‘We will get a decision as and when he decides’
“As you are all aware, he has consistently made his decisions and made them known when it is appropriate. We certainly anticipate hearing from him as soon as he makes a choice. However, we sincerely hope that he will be able to participate in CSK the next year. That’s what I think and what the supporters demand,” he remarked.
This season, Dhoni has had a lot of great individual efforts. Dhoni continued to be a reliable presence behind the wickets despite his advanced age and a nagging knee problem. He seldom played more than 7-8 balls in a match and was mostly used as a lower-order basher when he came in to bat. This season, Dhoni has struck out 161 runs in 73 balls with a strike rate of 220.55, second only to Jake Fraser-McGurk among hitters who have faced at least 25 balls.
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