Will MS Dhoni Retire After IPL 2024?: IPL 2024 is shaping up to be a memorable season. With several top stars in cricket either released by teams or entering the auction, teams will have a chance to rebuild without scrapping away the whole squad like in the years of a mega-auction.
One of the most intriguing teams to watch, like every year, will be defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK). While fans will be looking forward to the five-time champions looking to defend their title, CSK’s IPL 2024 will also be a compelling watch for another reason, as it just might be captain MS Dhono’s final season.
Will MS Dhoni Retire After IPL 2024?
Having retired from international cricket in 2020 (after his last match in 2019), Dhoni has only been playing in the IPL each year. While each season looks to be his last, the veteran keeper returns every year to play yet another season. The 2023 season seemed like it would definitely be his last season of cricket on the highest level. He even won the IPL for the fifth time following a splendid final against Gujarat Titans (GT). But in the post-match ceremony, he did not announce his retirement.
Player retention lists for IPL 2024 have confirmed that MS Dhoni will be taking the field for CSK next season. The question now is, will THIS be his final IPL season?
Before speculating on whether the legendary captain will play another season, let us speculate on why has he continued playing despite retiring from international cricket. The answer could be as simple as his love for the game. Many players from several different sports claim that it is very difficult to move on from a sport. Even the likes of Sachin Tendulkar have expressed how challenging it is to give up a game they have played their whole life.
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But this seems more and more unlikely as the years go by. It is very clear that Dhoni is not in a condition to play cricket at such a high-level year or year. Last season, we saw his body breaking down under the strain of keeping for 20 overs, resulting in him making mistakes that past MS would never make.
It could also be like an annual excursion for MS Dhoni. Playing cricket in front of thousands of fans for two months and the thrill of competition might be something keeping the 42-year-old around.
But what seems to be the most likely reason for Dhoni to still be playing for CSK is his loyalty to the franchise. It is clear that since 2020, there has been no clear successor for the World Cup winner when it comes to the captaincy of CSK.
In 2022, in what seemed like MS’ last IPL year, the team tried passing the mantle of captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja. But in the few matches the team played that season under the Gujarati allrounder, the team crashed and burned. This resulted in Dhoni getting the captaincy back.
But now, two new captaincy options have emerged. First is Ajinkya Rahane.Despite being 35 years old, Rahane seemed to have reinvented himself for the T20 format last season. Scoring at a strike rate of over 170 last season, he became the accelerator in the middle order that every team needs.
He also has tons of captaincy experience. Not only has Rahane captained Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL, but he was also the vice-captain of the Indian Test team for a long time. In fact, he led the side during their famous 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar trophy win.
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The second name is for a longer run. Ruturaj Gaikwad has been one of the team’s, nay, the league’s most exciting young prospects in the past few years. The 26-year-old has been one of the IPL’s highest run scorers since his debut in 2020.
Also, the trend in IPL right now is to make the team’s best young (ish) player the captain. RR has Sanju Samson, GT has SHubman Gill, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have Shreyas Iyer, Delhi Capitals (DC) had Rishabh Pant before his accident, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have KL Rahul in his early thirties, and Mumbai Indians might be seeing a 30-year-old Hardik Pandya as their future captain.
Ruturaj Gaikwad also has some experience captaining at a high level, as he captained the Indian national side that competed in and won the 2023 Asian Games gold medal.
Assuming that it is the captaincy of the team that has prevented MS Dhoni from retiring from IPL until now, it seems that Ruturaj Gaikwad might get a few games to captain this season. If that experiment is successful, then yes, MS DHoni will retire following IPL 2024.
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