If This is Goodbye: What Happens to CSK After Dhoni?
The roar of the crowd still follows him, but in cricket’s cruel present, even legends must chase time.
Each time Mahendra Singh Dhoni steps out to bat, the stadiums erupt as if it's a World Cup final. Chennai becomes golden, hearts beat harder, and memories awaken. But in a team where everything boils down to outcomes and time is something that waits for no one, nostalgia can perhaps no longer do.
In recent IPL seasons, especially 2025, CSK's strategy seems to revolve around balancing legacy and competitiveness. Dhoni’s blade, once feared across continents, now sings only in fragments. In a match against Delhi Capitals, he remained unbeaten on 30 off 26 balls — steady, graceful, but slow. The required run rate soared beyond 24 an over. The finisher, once known for last-over miracles, didn’t finish. And yet, when he hit the ball out of the ropes, the stands shook as if victory had been attained. It hadn't.
It's not the first time that this script has been followed. Dhoni has arrived too late, batted too slowly, or just been kept in reserve until the game was lost. And yet, spectators don't jeer — they chant more raucously. Team-mates don't doubt — they yield. The CSK bench addresses him less as a player and more like a seer.
This is not about runs or strike rate. This is about aura. MS Dhoni, who is 43 now, does not just have a place in the playing XI. He has cricket's imagination. His presence still draws, even if his bat no longer crafts endings beloved by fans. The man who used to make bowlers shiver at a flick of the bat and a glance at the scoreboard now brings serenity, strategy, and symbolism.
To evaluate Dhoni based on figures alone is to misread his mythology. He's one of India's greatest captains — the only one to have won the ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy. For CSK, he isn't just the face — he's the face. With him at the helm, the franchise went from being tournament regulars to being a dynasty. Even after relinquishing official captaincy, Dhoni remains the whisper in the ear, the unseen hand dictating field positions, bowling substitutions, and pressure reactions.
Is that sufficient?
The IPL is not a monument to the past. It's a hungry-for-results machine, a competition where upstarts such as Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Abhishek Sharma are redefining the rules. As CSK faithful remain fiercely loyal, the franchise has a sensitive dilemma on its hands now: when does respect tip into resistance to change?
The issue isn't if Dhoni deserves respect — that is in everlasting abundance. The issue is if CSK can continue to construct its team around nostalgia. As the Impact Player rule brings the ability to make smarter tactical replacements, the team could transform — but only if it decides on clarity over sentiment.
Still, it’s hard to imagine a yellow jersey without Dhoni’s calm eyes beneath the helmet, or a Chennai match without thunderous chants of “Thala.” Whether he plays or retires, Dhoni’s legend won’t fade — it’ll simply change form.
For the moment, then, while the summer sun blazes down upon Chepauk, fans will continue flocking, phones aloft, hearts aflutter — not merely to see Dhoni dance for the final time, but to be part of it. For in a cricket-crazed nation, MS Dhoni is no longer merely a player.
He is an emotion.
This article is authored by Hariom Chauhan as part of internship program with Deccan Chronicle.
