MS Dhoni will retire after IPL 2026. Although his retirement has been discussed for the last 3-4 years, this time former Chennai Super Kings player Robin Uthappa has confirmed it. Dhoni has been a part of CSK since the first edition, in between he played for Rising Pune Supergiants for 2 seasons (2016 and 2017) and then returned to the same team.
In the mini auction held for IPL 2026, Chennai Super Kings gave more attention to young players. CSK spent Rs 28.4 crore for 2 uncapped players. They also bought Karthik Sharma for Rs 14.2 crore and Prashant Veer for Rs 14.2 crore. The base price of both was Rs 30 lakh. Former cricketer Robin Uthappa said that there should not be much doubt about Dhoni’s plans after this season.
What did Uthappa say about Dhoni’s retirement?
According to InsideSport, Robin Uthappa said during the coverage of IPL auction on JioHotstar, “I think everything is clear. This is clearly going to be MS Dhoni’s last season. Now there is no guess or speculation about whether he will play another year or not. He will retire after playing next year.”
Seeing the approach of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL auction, Robin Uthappa feels that this will be Dhoni’s last season. CSK, which once supported experience, has this time gambled on young players, the team spent a lot of money on young players. Prashant Veer and Karthik Sharma have jointly become the most expensive uncapped players in IPL history. Apart from these, Noor Ahmed (20), Dewald Brevis (22) included in the team are still in the initial phase of their career. Uthappa believes that this did not happen suddenly, rather it had already been started.
Uthappa said, “I think when you look at the investment they have made in youth and the kind of teams they have picked since last year, all signs point in this direction. They are focusing on developing talent, finding talent and keeping that talent within the franchise.”
Uthappa further said, “We all know that if he is not playing, he will be the mentor of the team. I think this year he will work as a mentor-cum-player.”
