Chennai Super Kings (CSK) veteran MS Dhoni was seen being engaged in an intense batting session at the training nets on Sunday.
Chennai Super Kings posted a video on ‘X’, wherein Dhoni could be seen batting in the nets alongside skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad at CSK’s High Performance Center in Chennai.
The Jharkhand cricketer played a few neat drives through the off-side, a few pull shots using his backfoot and a few cut shots.
The 44-year-old has been working hard ahead of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
MS Dhoni’s preparations for IPL 2026
He trained vigorously at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi by focusing on intense training sessions, gym work and swimming. In the recent past, the wicketkeeper-batter has had knee injuries and even underwent surgery in Mumbai after guiding CSK to their fifth IPL title in 2023.
Dhoni was retained as an “uncapped player” ahead of IPL 2025 under the tournament rules, for ₹4 crores. He was retained for the same amount ahead of IPL 2026. Dhoni had a mediocre IPL 2025 season with the bat, aggregating 196 runs from 14 matches at an average of 24.50 and a strike-rate of 135.17.
Often, Dhoni walked out to bat late down the order last season, playing a few cameos as he enthralled his fans. He also walked out to warm receptions on multiple occasions at CSK’s home ground at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai last year.
The Yellow Brigade, though, endured a disappointing IPL campaign in 2025 after they finished in last place with eight points from 14 matches.
To date, Dhoni has played 278 IPL matches and has aggregated 5439 runs at a strike rate of 137.45. This, though, includes his matches for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, for whom he played in 2016 and 2017 when CSK were banned from the IPL.
The CSK captaincy passed on from Dhoni to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the IPL 2024 season. CSK narrowly missed out on the IPL playoffs that season. In IPL 2025, though, Gaikwad was ruled out of the tournament midway due to an injury and Dhoni retook captaincy duties for the rest of the season.
CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan recently said that Dhoni will play the upcoming IPL season, but he may not play all the matches, given that they have traded in Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals (RR).
