Dhoni has scored 76 runs in the first four matches.
Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary feels that MS Dhoni should have retired after winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 as captain of Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He said that by continuing to play and not being able to finish games now, Dhoni is slowly losing the respect he had earned.
Dhoni is still a key player for CSK, but he has not performed much in IPL 2025 yet, and the team is also underperforming.
In the match against Delhi Capitals (DC), he walked in to bat at seven when CSK required 110 runs off 9.2 overs. Many people thought it was too late for him to help the team win the match.
He stayed not out with 30 runs from 26 balls but showed no urgency while batting and only picked up the pace very late when the target had already become too tough. He took 19 balls to hit his first boundary, a six off Mukesh Kumar in the 18th over, which is the slowest start by any batter in IPL 2025 so far. In the end, CSK lost the match by 25 runs. This was their third straight loss after winning their first game.
Dhoni has scored 76 runs in the first four matches. Many fans and experts have questioned his batting position.
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According to Tiwary, 2023 would have been the perfect time to step away. He also mentioned that Dhoni’s name, fame, and respect, which he earned through cricket, seem to be slowly fading in the last two years because of how he has been playing.
“I think the right time for him to retire was in 2023, when he won the IPL trophy. He should have retired then. Somewhere, I feel that all the fame, name, and respect he earned from cricket, it’s kind of slipping away in the last two years with the way he’s been playing,” Tiwary said while speaking on Cricbuzz
Manoj Tiwary said that fans are finding it hard to watch Dhoni play like this now, and he seems to be losing the spark he once had. He added that the trust Dhoni built over the years, especially with Chennai fans, is starting to fade. After the last match, many fans were seen on the streets speaking against him, which, according to Tiwary, is a sign that things are not working anymore.
“Fans are unable to bear watching him like this and he’s losing that spark. The trust he built in fans over the years, especially in the hearts of Chennai fans, after the last match, the way fans came out on the roads and gave interviews against him, it should have been a sign that it’s not working anymore,” Tiwary said.
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