Five years on since his international retirement, MS Dhoni continues to keep his ardent fans guessing. Confronting the question of calling time on playing for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, the ageing talisman has now played six seasons since his last appearance for India in 2019. Gearing up for the 19th IPL season with CSK, the 44-year-old Dhoni resumed training in Ranchi on Saturday, two months ahead of the proposed start of the tournament.
With several high-profile acquisitions, including India wicket-keeper Sanju Samson, many believe that Dhoni could move to a non-playing capacity during the IPL 2026 season. However, his former teammate, R Ashwin, thinks otherwise.
Ashwin, who retired from IPL cricket in August 2025 after spending the previous season with CSK, made a bold claim that Dhoni could don a fresh role with the bat, moving to exploit conditions in the batting Powerplay for the five-time champions.
“Dhoni looks set to play as he has already started practising. He’s looking fit. Some said he may not play in the 11, or this might be his last season. But it looks like he got motivated seeing Imran Tahir. Looking at him, it doesn’t look like he’ll bat at No.9. He looks like he’ll come out to bat at No.3 in the Powerplay and be the enforcer, the way he has begun practice,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
While CSK finished at the bottom of the points table last season, Dhoni remained far from his best too, scoring only 196 runs at 135.17 in 14 games.
Ashwin also raved about the quality of players CSK have assembled in their bid for a strong reset this year.
“They’ve scouted very well and boast a powerhouse of a batting lineup. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Karthik Sharma, and Prashant Veer is a batting lineup, barring the inexperience in the last two, you ask how are teams going to stop this batting lineup? Even a 200 to 200 becomes really difficult for teams to stop CSK to,” added Ashwin.
“Even Jamie Overton is going great guns. Only the combination CSK decides to go with is to be seen. Ayush Mhatre, irrespective of what happens in the U-19 World Cup, will deliver in the IPL. CSK’s batting is a tough one to stop. If they get the combination and momentum right, that is a batting lineup that’s really going to make work very difficult for bowlers around the tournament.”