Chennai Super Kings CEO breaks silence on MS Dhoni’s retirement

There have been many speculations around the corner about MS Dhoni's retirement plans from the Indian Premier League (IPL). Dhoni played the last match of IPL 2024 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru where his team lost. He will have to make up his mind, though, as the BCCI is planning a massive auction before the 2025 Indian Premier League, which will allow teams to release most of their players and keep only a small number of players. In that case, CSK will have to make the difficult decision about which players to keep because it would affect their budget for the auction, where the teams will ultimately rebuild their rosters. Amid all the rumors, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan gave an update on Dhoni.

Kasi Viswanathan said that there were no discussions about Dhoni’s retirement in the dressing room. He didn’t ask him about his future neither he told anything about it. Whenever he takes the decision he will inform us till then we’ll not interfere with that.

Kasi Viswanathan said, “There were no discussions in the dressing room about it. We have never asked him about his future and neither has he said anything about it. When he takes a decision, he will inform us, until then we will not interfere.”

Dhoni played in all 14 games this season despite having knee surgery in May 2023. He scored 161 runs at a strike rate of 220.55, including 13 sixes. Both batting coach Mike Hussey and head coach Stephen Fleming insisted that Dhoni's fitness is fine and that he still has the potential to hit the ball hard and long.

CSK former player Ambati Rayudu also spoke on MS Dhoni saying that he doesn’t think it’s his last game and doesn’t want him to end on this note. Further, he supported BCCI on the impact player rule and doesn’t want it to get removed.

Rayudu said, “I don’t think this is his last game. I just don’t see him wanting to end on this note. With the impact player role as well, it gives him the opportunity to be able to come in those last few overs and truly make that impact. BCCI better not remove the impact player role because we still want to see MS Dhoni play. So it’s up to BCCI now. Do we want to see MS Dhoni play or not.”

The 42-year-old promised his fans last year that he would return for another year. As CSK’s  IPL 2024 journey came to an end, he didn’t give any update about his future plans.