IPL 2025: Has the aura around MS Dhoni turned into the Indian Premier League? | Mint

If MS Dhoni steps out to bat to Chepauk, you can feel the frisson of a kilometer away. If you couldn’t see, you would still hear the roar greeting him. If you couldn’t hear, you would still feel the vibrations in your legs. MS Dhoni and Chennai are a love relationship that has grown deeper every year since 2008. However, in 2025 it feels a little different. It may have to do with Chennai Super Kings who have already lost two out of three games at Chepauk and have moved the points table. But it’s also about MS Dhoni so far not had a very ‘Dhoni-like’ season. In IPL 2025, he took 76 runs in four innings, at a strike rate of 138.2. And in that 30 did not come out of 16 in one match against RCB, with most of the runs coming when the game was out of reach. In the other three innings together, Dhoni’s strike rate was less than 118. In the latest loss of CSK, against Delhi Capitals with 25 runs, there were even speculations that MS Dhoni would mention time on his career after the match. This was mainly due to his parents who made the trip to Chennai to see how their son plays, which is a rare face. But unless Dhoni struggles with a serious injury that has become unmanageable – and there is certainly no evidence of it in this match or the previous one, it would be surprising if he went up stumps halfway through an IPL season. Even without that speculation, the returns were not as usual. What went wrong? Take off the aura around Dhoni? Back in IPL 2023, CSK lost a match against Rajasthan Royals by three runs at Chepauk. Dhoni was there at the end and did not beat 32 from 17, but only lacked in the chase. At the end when Rajasthan Royals, Captain Sanju Samson, was asked when he felt the game was safe if 40 needed in two overs, he replied: ‘You never feel that you have that man[(Honi) in the middle. You have to respect that man, and you know what he can do … No data, nothing works! ‘ Whether teams feel like or not feel like Dhoni is secondary. Does Dhoni still feel that way about himself? In the 25-run loss to Delhi’s capitals, Dhoni clapped in 11th place with a climbing rate. However, the batting in the middle does not correspond to the situation. Dhoni was unable to free his arms for his big hits, and was not prepared to take risks against spin to give the ball away. You couldn’t help but think that the Dhoni of IPLS would not be able to tame so easily, no matter how tough the chase or the pitch was. What is the future of MS Dhoni? Coach Stephen Fleming pulled off questions about Dhoni’s career and said after the loss of Delhi Capitals: “I have no idea. I just enjoy working with him. He still goes strong. I still don’t even ask!” The mere statistics say that in IPL 2023 and 2024 the strike rate of Dhoni 204 was together. The figure is significantly lower this year. But you have to delve deeper. Over the last two IPLs, Dhoni only beat 23 times in 30 games and had an average of just 5.65 balls per innings. In IPL 2025, Dhoni batted in each of CSK’s four games and faced nearly 14 balls per innings. It tells you that it is very sharp that CSK has not batted well as a group. When the batting clicked, they could send Dhoni at the end of a turn, and he could bat with complete freedom and match a little explosion. And often he didn’t bat at all. This year he didn’t just beat every time, he had to face a lot more balls because batsmen above him didn’t stay long enough. At this stage of his career, the best use of Dhoni is to maximize his wicket and leadership skills and correct his batting access. With CSK’s batting failures, the latter does not happen. Whether the new reality is something that Dhoni can do, he just knows. At the moment in IPL 2025, the royal challengers beat Bengaluru CSK in Chepauk after 17 years and Delhi Capitals ended a 15-year-old waiting for the same. Chepauk is not the Chepeuk of old. And maybe Chepauk’s favorite son isn’t the MS Dhoni of old either.