MS Dhoni's IPL 2026 Status Revealed As Chennai Super Kings CEO Makes Big Revelation

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) CEO Kasi Viswanathan has shed light on franchise great MS Dhoni's playing future ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Dhoni has been part of the franchise since the inception of the IPL in 2008. He played for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant (RPSG) for two seasons when CSK were banned from the league in 2016 and 2017. Dhoni's future has been a huge talking point for the past few seasons. With around a month remaining until the start of IPL 2026, Viswanathan opened up on the hot debate, revealing that the 44-year-old will indeed play in the upcoming season.

"He will play, he will play," Viswanathan said in response to a question from NDTV.

Amid talks over his playing future, Dhoni recently ruled out the prospect of grabbing a microphone inside the commentary box, describing the popular post-retirement job as a "difficult" balancing act driven by stats, which he finds tough to memorise.

"Commentary is very difficult. I feel there is a very fine line between describing the game and in that process getting into a zone where you start criticising individuals who are playing the game. It's a very thin line," Dhoni told sports broadcaster Jatin Sapru during a Youtube interaction.

"Often, you don't even feel that what you are doing is may be borderline wrong. You would always like to be on the other side where you are describing the game. If you feel something is wrong you say it out.

"But how to put it, that is also an art, how to politely put it forward where nobody feels targetted...If the team is losing there are reasons behind it, and you need to have the skill of describing those reasons without anybody feeling bad. That is the art of commentary," he said.

Dhoni, a five-time IPL winner with CSK, retired from international cricket in August 2020. 

Topics mentioned in this article

Chennai Super Kings MS Dhoni IPL 2026 Cricket