There is a strong anticipation that MS Dhoni will announce his retirement from the IPL once the 17th season wraps up. Although he retired from international play on August 15, 2020, he stayed active in the IPL. The clearest indicator that this may be his final run came when the captaincy of the five-time champions was handed to Ruturaj Gaikwad right before their first match against RCB in Chennai.
Legendary Indian cricketer MS Dhoni is expected to announce his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the end of the 17th season. Dhoni formally declared his retirement from international cricket on August 15, 2020, but his participation in the IPL remained unchanged. The decision to hand over CSK captaincy to young opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad on the eve of the IPL 2024 opener between the five-time champions and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Chennai was the clearest signal that this could be Dhoni’s final season.
Dhoni's connection with CSK is legendary, and while he may stop playing, he is expected to continue influencing the franchise's future. The team did try to move on from Dhoni's leadership during the 2022 season, but it was short-lived as Ravindra Jadeja returned the captaincy to him after eight games. According to CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan in an interview with PTI, the current move to bring in Ruturaj Gaikwad is a different story altogether.
Kasi Viswanathan noted that Dhoni always prioritizes the team's success and mentioned he was only informed of the captaincy switch just before the meeting of captains, stressing that the final call belonged to Dhoni. Looking at the numbers, Dhoni has a massive legacy with 250 IPL appearances and over 5,000 runs at a 135.92 strike rate. Despite battling a knee injury last season—which required surgery after he secured his fifth title—the 42-year-old is returning to fitness. While he had to drop to number 8 in the batting order last year due to his injury, fans expect him to move back up the order this season.
Dhoni's leadership record is staggering: he led CSK to five IPL titles and two Champions League T20 trophies, captaining the side in 235 out of 249 total matches. He also spent two years leading Rising Pune Supergiant (14 games) while CSK was sidelined from the league. With 226 total games as an IPL captain, he comfortably leads the statistics, far surpassing Rohit Sharma's 158 games.