When MS Dhoni walks out to bat at Chepauk, you can feel the frisson from a mile away. If you couldn’t see, you would still hear the roar that greets him. If you couldn’t hear, you would still feel the vibrations in your bones. MS Dhoni and Chennai is a love affair that has grown deeper every year since 2008.
However, in 2025, it feels a bit different. It might have to do with Chennai Super Kings having lost two out of three games at Chepauk already, and sliding down the points table. But it’s also about MS Dhoni not having a very ‘Dhoni-like’ season so far.
In IPL 2025, he’s got 76 runs in four innings, at a strike rate of 138.2. And in that, 30 not out off 16 came in one game against RCB, with most of the runs coming when the game was already beyond reach. In the other three innings combined, Dhoni’s strike rate has been less than 118.
In CSK’s latest loss, to Delhi Capitals by 25 runs, there was even speculation that MS Dhoni might call time on his career after the game. That was mainly due to his parents making the trip to Chennai to watch their son play, which is a rare sight.
But unless Dhoni is battling a serious injury that has become unmanageable – and there was certainly no evidence of that in this game or the previous ones – it would be astonishing if he pulls up stumps midway through an IPL season.
Even without that speculation, the returns haven’t been as usual. What has gone wrong?
Is the aura around Dhoni diminishing?
Back in IPL 2023, CSK had lost a game against Rajasthan Royals by three runs at Chepauk. Dhoni was there at the end, smashing 32 not out off 17 but just falling short in the chase. At the end when Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson was asked when he felt the game was safe when 40 were required in two overs, he answered: “You never feel that when you have that guy [(honi) is in the middle. You have to respect that guy, and you know what he can do… No data, nothing works!”
Whether teams feel that way about Dhoni still or not is secondary. Does Dhoni feel that way about himself still? In the 25-run loss to Delhi Capitals, Dhoni came out to bat in the 11th over with a climbing asking rate. However, the batting in the middle didn’t match the situation. Dhoni couldn’t free his arms for his trademark big hits, and seemed unwilling to take risks against spin in particular, to power the ball away. You couldn’t help but think that the Dhoni of IPLs past wouldn’t have been so easy to tame, no matter how tough the chase or the pitch was.
What’s MS Dhoni’s future?
Coach Stephen Fleming shrugged off questions on Dhoni’s career, saying after the loss to Delhi Capitals: “I have no idea. I’m just enjoying working with him still. He’s still going strong. I don’t even ask these days!” The bare stats say that in IPL 2023 and 2024 combined, Dhoni’s strike rate was 204. That figure is considerably lower this year.
But you need to delve deeper. Across the last two IPLs, Dhoni batted only 23 times in 30 matches, and faced an average of just 5.65 balls per innings. In IPL 2025, Dhoni has batted in each of CSK’s four games, and faced almost 14 balls per innings. That tells you that very starkly that CSK haven’t been batting well as a group.
When the batting clicked, they could send Dhoni at the end of an innings, and he could bat with complete freedom and an explosiveness few could match. And often, he didn’t bat at all. This year, not only has he batted everytime, he’s had to face a lot more balls because batsmen above him aren’t staying in long enough.
At this stage of his career, Dhoni’s best usage is in maximising his wicketkeeping and leadership skills, and timing his batting entry right. With CSK’s batting failures, the latter isn’t happening.
Whether the new reality is something Dhoni can manage to power through, only he knows. Right now in IPL 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru have beaten CSK in Chepauk after 17 years and Delhi Capitals have ended a 15-year wait for the same. Chepauk isn’t the Chepauk of old. And, perhaps, Chepauk’s favourite son isn’t the MS Dhoni of old either.
