MS Dhoni faced a lot of backlash from fans and experts after he batted at No. 9 during Chennai Super Kings’ loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2025. While chasing a big score, CSK sent in players like Sam Curran and Ravichandran Ashwin before Dhoni, who is known for being a powerful hitter. Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar shared his thoughts, saying that Dhoni is more of a brand for CSK now than a key player.
I see the bigger picture. If you look at this year and even last year, Dhoni is seen more as a brand than just a player, Manjrekar said on JioStar. He pointed out that the team doesn’t add an extra batter because Dhoni is there, treating him like a bonus.
Manjrekar also mentioned that CSK isn’t using Dhoni’s talent effectively by putting him so far down the order. He suggested that Dhoni should take on the captaincy role to become more useful for the team. If he’s batting so late, he should be the captain. He’s doing well as a keeper, but he’d do more leading the team. Right now, he’s not being used much,” Manjrekar added.
Dhoni hit 30 runs off 16 balls against RCB, but since he came in so late, those runs didn’t really matter in the end. CSK kept Dhoni for just Rs 4 crore ahead of IPL 2025, allowing teams to retain players who haven’t played international cricket for five years or more.
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