CHENNAI, MAY 12   :   Has the talismanic and iconic Chennai Super Kings (CSK) cricketer M S Dhoni played his last IPL game at his home  ground of Chepauk on Sunday.

Affectionately called captain cool, Dhoni was instrumental in guiding the  most successful franchisee CSK to a record 10 IPL finals and in the process winning five titles.

In the last home match, CSK defeated Rajasthan Royals by five wickets today to stay afloat for a place in the play offs CSK jumped to the third spot with 14 points and is hoping to sign off the league phase in style with a win over RCB in its last and final match at Bengaluru on Saturday next.

There were high expectations that Dhoni, who had led the franchisee since its inception, before handing over the mantle to the young Ruturaj Gaikwad at the beginning of the current edition, might announce his retirement as a player from CSK after today’s match.

Dhoni had already announced last year that he would retire only after playing his last match at home and the social media has been trending on this and also went overdrive.

Ahead of the today’s crucial must win encounter, CSK has appealed to the fans to stay put in the stadium after the game as a key announcement was likely.

CSK posted “Requesting the Superfans to Stay back after the game! Something special coming your way!”. It also thanked all the CSK fans. “CSKvRR #YellorukkumThanks”.

A packed stadium filled with Yellow brigade waited patiently after the contest expecting some important announcement–perhaps on Dhoni’s swansong–but the CSK management was mum on the issue as there was no official comment or statement.

When tried by UNI, CSK CEO K.Viswanathan could not be reached for comments. It was widely believed that the CSK management wanted to wait as the chances of the team, playing either the Qualifier-1, Eliminator and Qualifier-2 cannot be ruled out.

If the table toppers lose their remaining games and CSK wins its final match, there is every chance of it finishing second in the points table and play in Qualifier-1. A win in that match will take CSK, eyeing for a record sixth title, directly to the final which incidentally would be played in Chennai.

Even if the team finished either third or fourth in the points table, it has to play the Eliminator. If CSK wins this, it will feature in Qualifer-2 against the losers of Qualifier-1–also to be held in Chennai–where again a victory will take the team to the summit clash and his ardent fans could seem him in action on the field for A final hurrah when an announcement could be expected.

After the IPL final at Ahmedabad last year, when he guided CSK for the record-equalling fifth title against Gujarat Titans, Dhoni, replying to a query on his retirement said, he wanted to come back for the fans one more time.

“Circumstantially if you see, this is the best time to announce my retirement. But the amount of love and affection I have been shown wherever I have been this year, the easy thing would be for me to say ‘Thank you very much’, but the tough thing for me is to work hard for another nine months and come back and play at least one more season of IPL,” Dhoni had said.

“A lot depends on the body, I have 6-7 months to decide. It will be more like a gift from my side, it’s not easy for me but that’s a gift. The way they’ve shown their love and affection, I think that’s something I need to do for them,” he had said.

Dhoni, who had underwent a knee surgery, has been batting lower in the order and was helping the team with short cameos. And it was justified by CSK head coach Stephen Fleming a couple of days back oin managing Dhoni’s workload.

Fleming said while they have a good backup wicketkeeping option, Dhoni’s contributions are currently invaluable to the side. “We’re managing his workload. It’s risky, and we’ve seen that early on in the season with a little bit of muscle injury, that if he bats too long, we run the risk of losing him.
Dhoni’s former CSK teammate, Suresh Raina, has also said that he will be back for IPL 2025.(UNI)