While the Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma, it will be fair to say that the biggest ‘brand’ of the league is none other than MS Dhoni. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) legend is not just an all-time great with either bat or gloves. He embodies the magnitude of attraction that ideally no one has in the game. Wherever CSK plays, people turn up in yellow, with number 7 printed on their backs. The enigma of Dhoni is just startling, and it has been on the rise season after season.
IPL 2025: MS Dhoni, yes or no?
However, as Dhoni likes to keep it, we are still unsure if he will be part of the mega season that IPL 2025 is going to be. Following the IPL 2024 league stage exit, Dhoni said that his decision would be dependent on the retention rules that BCCI would provide. And now that we are all aware of the rules, fans are still uncertain about Dhoni’s availability. Regardless, it doesn’t stop fans from voicing out their opinions on the CSK icon, who has led them to a record 10 IPL finals and five silverwares.
Considering this, Insidesport conducted a poll on X (formerly known as Twitter), where we asked fans if MS Dhoni should play in IPL 2025 or not. And unsurprisingly, the fans stormed on that ‘Yes’ button. Interestingly, as many as 61.7% of voters wish to see MS Dhoni play in the upcoming season.
However, on the flip side, there was a decent section of fans who also asserted that the former CSK skipper should put a full stop to his IPL that has seen him participate across 17 seasons. As many as 38.3% of fans selected the option for Dhoni to hang up his captaincy boots.
Dhoni, who hung up his captaincy boots on the eve of IPL 2024, has been purely participating in the IPL, mostly as a wicketkeeper. He has reduced his role to just 10-15 balls per innings, and is not even expected to be part of the league for the next 3-4 years. Courtesy of this, it is highly likely that CSK opt to exercise the new uncapped rule that allows players (who played their last international match five years ago) to be retained for just Rs 4 crore.