Former India batter Mohammad Kaif hinted the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season could be MS Dhoni's last as a player. His remarks came after the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered their fifth straight loss of IPL 2025, losing to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by eight wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. It was Dhoni's first game back in charge of CSK after regular captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out for the remainder of the season due to an elbow injury.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Kaif questioned whether it is the right time for CSK to start thinking about the future. Kaif once again sparked the pitch debate, the CSK management for making slow tracks, especially against a team with a potent spin attack like KKR.
"Is this Dhoni's last season? The way CSK's season is going, is the time right for a change? Last question: Why give a slow pitch at home when the rivals have spinners like Naraine and Varun?" Kaif wrote on X.
After the match, Dhoni said that they faltered in building partnerships and utilising the powerplay to the fullest.
"It has been quite a few nights that has not gone our way. The challenge has been there, we have to accept the challenge. Today I felt we did not have enough runs on the board. It has been the case over there, when we bowled in the 2nd innings it stopped a bit, today it did in the first innings. When you lose too many wickets, there is pressure and with quality spinners it is difficult. We never got any partnerships and bit more partnerships, application and we would be fine," the wicketkeeper-batter said in the post-match presentation.
"What is important is to see the conditions, couple of games we have done decently well, back your strengths and play the shots you can play. Not match to someone's else play. Our openers are good openers, play authentic cricket shots, they don't slog or look to hit across the line. It is important not to get desperate seeing the scorecard. If we start looking for 60 with our lineup it will be very difficult for us. Get partnerships going, maybe capitalise in the middle and later overs and if we lose wickets, the middle order has to do their job differently. And the slog will be delayed for quite a while," Dhoni added.
It was CSK's heavies defeat in terms of balls remaining, and also the first time they've have lost five games on the bounce in a season.
(With IANS Inputs)