After Royal Challengers Bengaluru knocked out Chennai Super Kings on Saturday, it was widely expected that MS Dhoni could announce his retirement from IPL. The whole IPL 2024 seemed like MSD’s farewell tour with fans, irrespective of their allegiance to their home franchises, thronging the stadiums to get a glimpse of ‘Thala’ possible for the last time in action. Even as the dust is settling after RCB’s victory over CSK, the future of MS Dhoni remains a big question mark.
The 42-year-old played with a nagging pain all through IPL 2024, coming in only as an Impact Player to bat at the far end of the CSK innings; even in the RCB vs CSK game, with the match in the balance, it was Mitchell Santner who walked out to bat ahead of Dhoni. Astonishingly, throughout IPL 2024, the great man faced 73 deliveries in the 11 innings he came out to bat. And the earliest he came out to bat was Saturday’s RCB game – with 4.5 overs remaining.
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The most deliveries he faced in an innings was against Delhi Capitals – 16, scoring his highest score of 37*. Only three times in 11 innings he batted for more than ten deliveries, yet managed to hit 13 sixes and 14 fours. With CSK’s wicketkeeping option, Devon Conway was ruled out of the tournament, and CSK had no choice but to have Dhoni keep wickets. They only had one other specialist wicketkeeper in their ranks – India U19 star Avinash Aravelly and CSK would have been comfortable pushing the young player into the deep end and resting Dhoni. That was one of the reasons why Dhoni continued despite the nagging injury concerns. Another factor was mentoring their young skipper, Ruturaj Gaikwad, on the field.
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After the RCB vs. CSK game, rumour mills were abuzz that MD Dhoni’s retirement was imminent, but there were no signs of that, at least at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Even during CSK’s final home game on May 12 against RR, there were many post-game activities to hint that Dhoni may not be returning to MA Chidambaram Stadium as a player.
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Be that as it may, with Dhoni not giving away his plan, fans are hopeful of him returning for one more season, but will it be practical and logical for CSK to push MSD for one more season, considering we have the IPL 2025 auction coming up later this year – and this will be the mega auction, meaning teams will not be able to retain most of their players. Will they have to let go of the majority of their squad into the auction pool? Will CSK opt to retain Dhoni? Will we see Dhoni going into the auction pool, and will Dhoni announce his retirement before the IPL 2025 Auction to free up one space?
Will CSK Retain MS Dhoni Ahead of IPL 2022 Mega Auction?
There still needs to be clarity on how many players teams will be able to retain in the mega auction. Various reports have suggested that while some teams want the retention players list to go up to 8, some want it to be a clean slate with zero retentions. If the player retention goes up to 8, the auction can not be called a ‘mega auction’. Having zero retention will be impractical, and not many teams might be in favour of that. So, the middle ground is 4 (3 Indians,1 Overseas) or 5 (3 Indians, 2 Overseas).
Before the 2022 IPL Mega auction, CSK had retained Ravindra Jadeja, Dhoni, Moeen Ali and Gaikwad, and what was interesting to note was Jadeja was the first pick and was retained for Rs 16 Crores, while Dhoni was retained for Rs 12 Crores. If we consider that MS Dhoni is available for one more IPL season heading into the IPL 2025 Mega Auction, CSK will be retaining MS Dhoni. Then, in that case, if we keep the marker at four maximum retentions (2 Indians, one overseas), CSK’s retention list could look like this: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni and Matheesha Pathirana. The Likes of Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekhsana, and Daryl Mitchell will go to the auction pool. If the retention list exceeds 5, CSK would like to retain Dube or Ravindra. And if Dhoni is not part of the retention list, then One of Dube, Raindra or Conway will be part of that retention list if it is capped at four players. If it goes for 5, then Dube and Ravindra can be retained.
Stay updated with the latest from IPL 2024, including top contenders for the IPL 2024 Orange Cap and IPL 2024 Purple Cap. Explore the complete IPL 2024 Schedule, IPL 2024 Points Table and players with the Most Sixes, Most Fours and Most Fifties in IPL 2024
Will MS Dhoni Go into the IPL 2025 Mega Auction Pool?
If MS Dhoni does not retire and CSK does not retain him, one option is repurchasing Dhoni from the auction pool. But that’s not going to happen.
What if Dhoni Retires Ahead of IPL 2025 Mega Auction
If Dhoni retires before the IPL mega auction, which seems most likely, then CSK can retain Gaikwad, Jadeja, Dube, Pathirana, or Ravindra. Fitness will be key to Dhoni’s future but the legendary cricketer hasn’t revealed his plan to CSK management yet. “He has not told us anything. He does not tell us such things anyway. He just decides,” CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan was quoted as saying Cricbuzz.
As per the report, the 42-year-old will have to take a call soon enough since a mega auction has been planned before the next IPL season and the franchises will have to announce their retentions by the second half of 2024.
MS Dhoni IPL 2024 Batting Stats
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