What do we know about MS Dhoni? For starters, he remains a top-class cricketer—one who seems most at home with the long hair look, and whose hitting has often carried the unmistakable air of someone taking the ball personally. There’s also the ongoing subplot of what happens when his presence intersects with family life and high-visibility moments on television. In any case, the larger point is that Dhoni’s impact still follows him into every conversation around IPL cricket.
In March, Sakshi Dhoni shared an Instagram story while heading to the airport. The caption read, “Back in 75 days Ranchi.” Fans quickly made the connection: Dhoni is 44, he is nearing the latter stages of his career, and his family would be present for every IPL match in 2026. That expectation largely proved correct—save for one small detail. The current IPL season is already more than halfway through, and Dhoni has still not taken the field. A calf injury has kept him out of view and away from match action.
CSK batting coach Michael Hussey explained that Dhoni’s preparation has been focused on more than just batting. “I know he’s been upping his running speeds,” Hussey said. “And that’s probably the sticking point. We’re confident from a skill perspective—his batting and his wicketkeeping—but the key was making sure he could sustain good running power, especially towards the back end of an innings. That’s when he has to keep scanning for those ones and twos.”
Hussey added that the club’s timeline is shaped by Dhoni’s comfort level rather than a set schedule. “So as soon as he gets the confidence in his calf, I’m sure he’ll get the green light to go. At the moment, we’re guided by him. I think Chennai is waiting too—fans are waiting, and everyone is hoping. We’re just waiting for him to be able to tell himself, and us, that he’s confident in his leg now. Then he can give his best efforts.”
Even with the season progressing, Dhoni’s approach has been cautious. Hussey revealed that Dhoni is choosing to stay away from the ground on match days. “He always wants what’s best for the team,” Hussey said. “He was worried that if he came, there might be a bit too much of a distraction.”
He elaborated on the reasoning behind that decision. “Obviously, the cameras would be on him a lot. The crowd would be cheering for him and you get that kind of attention. He really wanted the side to be able to go about its job — do our thing. Whether that’s right or wrong isn’t my call to make, but that’s the thinking behind it.”
In the middle of all the cricket talk, there was also a lighter line of chatter: Dhoni has apparently become the subject of internet humour, with fans joking that he fits the description of the “girl in the red dress” meme character.
Hussey returned to the more serious cricket angle as he described Dhoni’s involvement around the squad. “Obviously, he’s been watching very closely back home,” he said. “I personally love having him around the dressing room. He brings so much wisdom, and he gives the other players confidence. He’s training all the time and he has this bubbly personality during sessions, where he shares his experience with the group. But the key factor was that he didn’t want to become a distraction for the rest of the team—so on game day, he decided to stay away.”
CSK’s opening match against Rajasthan Royals more than a month ago carried a sense of milestone. It was the franchise’s first IPL game in which neither Dhoni nor Suresh Raina was included in the playing XI. At the time, it felt like an early sign of what the team’s next phase might look like. When asked whether that was the case, head coach Stephen Fleming insisted that even though Dhoni wasn’t present in person, his influence was still embedded in the group. Fleming suggested that Dhoni’s mindset had been on the bigger picture—aware he wasn’t only speaking to a room full of reporters, but to a huge online audience that rarely hesitates to pick sides. In a league where fandom can be passionate and sharply divided, Fleming’s message was simple: you’re either with one of India’s most influential cricketing figures, or you’re looking for less-than-civil, disrespectful debate.
Just a few days earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach Muttiah Muralidaran had discussed the business reality of the IPL. He said the tournament is a commercial enterprise, and for it to stay thriving, some compromises have to be accepted—such as maintaining an even contest between bat and ball. Expanding on his point, Muralidaran compared teams to corporate entities, players to valuable assets, and CSK as a franchise that holds an especially high-value asset. In that framing, there’s no reason to rush or to risk any further damage. And so, this storyline keeps rolling: every year, the recurring question is whether Dhoni will be fit to play the next season. This year, the question has shifted to whether he can manage to play this one. For the record, the signs have not looked too negative, though the argument remains that he could have given himself a greater chance to test his mobility rather than leaving it entirely to other people’s observations.
The final detail from training and preparations came from the stadium itself. The grounds staff reportedly struggled to keep up with the volume of balls Dhoni was sending into the stands during a long net session. It wasn’t his usual quick routine either—this was extended time, with room to check out Hardik Pandya’s bat, reminisce about the “good old days” with Kieron Pollard, and then spend roughly forty minutes to an hour working on whether he could challenge the stars of the Chepauk roof—or at the very least find ways to bring parts of it into play.
