MS Dhoni leaves for Delhi ahead of IPL 2025

CHENNAI: Legendary Indian cricketer and World Cup-winning ex-captain MS Dhoni arrived at Chennai Airport to leave for Delhi as the latest season of Indian Premier League (IPL) draws closer.

Dhoni will be playing in the 2025 IPL season for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), chasing his sixth title. Under the leadership of Ruturaj Gaikwad. CSK will start off their campaign against five-time champions and arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI) at their home ground of Chepauk.

Whether the upcoming IPL season with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be the last for Dhoni is uncertain. But ever since his retirement from international cricket in 2020, there have been speculations over when the legend will pull THE curtains on a glorious IPL career, in which he has captured five trophies as a captain.

Ahead of the 2025 season, Dhoni was retained as an uncapped player by CSK at Rs 4 crore. IPL had introduced a new rule ahead of last year’s auction, allowing franchises to retain players in the uncapped category if they have not played international cricket for five years.

Since his retirement from international cricket in 2020, Dhoni has only appeared in the IPL. In the 2024 season, he scored 161 runs at a strike rate of 220 and an average of 53.66 after 11 innings, staying unbeaten eight times and fulfilling the role of a finisher for the five-time champions.

Dhoni is the sixth-highest run-getter in IPL history, with 5.243 runs in 264 matches and 229 innings at an average of 39.12, a strike rate of 137.53 and 24 fifties. His best score is 84*. Other than CSK, he also played for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPG), a now-defunct-franchise, from 2016-17. (ANI)