IPL 2026 Comeback Confirmed for Cricket Legend Behind the Stumps

The legendary Indian wicket-keeper is confirmed for playing the IPL 2026 season. Fans will be able to watch MS Dhoni in the Yellow Jersey once again, and what could also be the last season. Will Dhoni win his sixth IPL season in the next edition?

Ever since the IPL 2025 ended, fans had one question, whether they will be able to watch Dhoni play the next season or not. MS Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2019, and has been playing in the IPL since then. Fans have to wait for 10 months to watch him play for two months

It was long waited to know whether he will be playing in the IPL 2026 season, but now the wait is over. The CSK CEO has confirmed that MS Dhoni will be playing for the team in the IPL 2026 season. The next IPL season will be intense for the CSK fans, as they will be able to watch Dhoni keep the stumps once again.

1. CSK’s IPL 2025 Season

Chennai Super Kings headed into the Indian Premier League 2025 season with a strong unit. But their campaign was soon affected with injuries. After a few games, their captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the season, putting them without a captain for the remaining games. In his place, Dhoni was announced as the skipper of the team.

With Dhoni returning to lead Chennai Super Kings, fans had huge expectations. But things didn't go their way, as Chennai Super Kings became among the first teams to get eliminated from the same. It was a shocking exit for CSK, as they finished last in the standings. This became the worst season for the team, and fans thought it might be the last for MS Dhoni.

But fortunately, Chennai was able to get a positive ending to the IPL 2025 edition. The team played its last match against Gujarat Titans, and were able to defeat them by a good margin. Winning the game by 83 runs helped the Chennai fans to have high hopes with the team for the next season.

The IPL 2025 season didn't go well for Dhoni with the bat. He was able to score 196 runs in 13 innings at an average of 24.50, and his strike rate remained at 135.17. It was a significant drop to his strike rate, as it remained above 200 in the IPL 2024 season. With Chennai not reaching the playoffs over the last two seasons, Dhoni and company will be eager to make the 2026 campaign theirs.

2. Dhoni's Batting Order Issues

In the IPL 2025 season, there were concerns related to the batting order for MS Dhoni. While he used to be there for the team in the middle order, there were games when he came out to bat much later. In a few games, he was even dropped to bat at number nine position, with him being the captain.

In the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Dhoni stepped in to bat at number nine. The issues with his batting order remained as he came out late in the game against Rajasthan Royals too. Chennai Super Kings ended up losing both games, as the Head Coach, Stephen Flemming, decided to answer the questions on

In a Press Conference, Stephen Flemming talked about a number of things. When a question was raised regarding the batting order of MS Dhoni, he took a jibe at the fans. He said that Dhoni cannot bat for ten overs at this age for Chennai Super Kings.

Flemming , “Yeah, it's a time thing. MS judges it. His body is, his knees aren't what they used to be. And he's moving okay, but there's still an attrition aspect to it. He can't bat 10 overs running full stick. So he will gauge on the day what he can give us. If the game's in the balance like today, he will go a little bit earlier, and he backs other players when other opportunities are up. So he's balancing that.”

He further said, “I said it last year [as well], he's too valuable to us - leadership and wicket-keeping - to throw him in nine, ten overs. He has actually never done that. So, look, from around 13-14 overs, he's looking to go depending on who's in.”