MS Dhoni set to give fans 'A gift from Thala', to feature in IPL 2024

NEW DELHI: Good news for cricket enthusiasts, the iconic Indian cricketer and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain, MS Dhoni will be playing in the Indian Premier League (2024).

As teams disclosed their lists of retained and released players in anticipation of the upcoming mini-auction scheduled for the following month, the defending champions, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), unveiled their roster. Notably, the revered wicketkeeper-batsman, MS Dhoni, was included in the 'retained' section of CSK's list.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the defending champions, also released their list, which featured the iconic wicketkeeper-batter in the 'retained' section. CSK confirmed that MS will play the next season, tweeting from their X (formerly Twitter) handle, "2024 - A Gift from Thala! Start the whistles!"

Dhoni's status in IPL 2024 was subjected to scrutiny by fans as he played the last season with an injured knee. He also underwent a knee surgery immediately after the season earlier this year, which was successful. The last season was also rumoured to be Dhoni's last IPL season. But following his team's fifth title win earlier this year, MS had said in the post-match presentation, "If you circumstantially if you see it is the best time to announce the retirement. The easy thing for me to say is thank you and retire. But the hard thing to do is to work hard for nine months and try to play one more IPL season. The body has to hold up. But with the amount of love I have received from CSK fans, it would be a gift for them to play one more season. The way they have shown their love and emotion, it is something I need to do for them."

MS Dhoni scored 104 runs in 12 innings this IPL 2023. He scored these runs at an average of 26, with a strike rate of above 182. His best score this season was 32*. A lot of his runs came through his signature big sixes. In 250 IPL matches, Dhoni has scored 5,082 runs at an average of 38.79 and a strike rate of over 135, with 24 half-centuries and best score of 84*. He is the seventh-highest run-scorer in IPL history.

Notably, England all-rounder Ben Stokes, New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson and South African all-rounder Dwaine Pretorious are among the players released by champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year.

CSK has retained its top players like NZ batter Devon Conway, England all-rounder Moeen Ali, skipper MS Dhoni, young batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sri Lankan stars Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana etc. They will be heading into the IPL auction with a purse of Rs 32.1 crores.

Released players: Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorius, Bhagath Varma, Subhranshu Senapati, Ambati Rayudu (Retired), Akash Singh, Kyle Jamieson and Sisanda Magala.

Players retained in the squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Ajinkya Rahane, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Choudhary, Mitchell Santner, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Prashant Solanki, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal.