Although cricket fans are busy with the T20 World Cup 2026, curiosity about the next season of IPL has also started increasing. IPL 2026 season is going to start next month i.e. from 26th March. The fans of Royal Challengers Bangalore will be very excited about this season because the team will enter as defending champion for the first time.

But the fans of Chennai Super Kings will also be equally happy because their favorite Mahendra Singh Dhoni is ready to return to the field once again. CSK CEO announced that Dhoni will come to play in the new season too, but along with this he also gave such news which disappointed the fans.

Dhoni will return in IPL 2026 but…

A month before the start of the tournament, Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Vishwanath, while talking to the media, revealed that Dhoni 19th season of IPL Returning to play. Like the last few years, even after the IPL 2025 season, the question arose whether Dhoni would return in the next season.

There were doubts about the playing of Dhoni, who was suffering from a knee injury for the last 2-3 seasons and is now 44 years old. Dhoni himself had said that he will take this decision only in future.

Now, ending the impatience and restlessness of CSK fans, franchise CEO Vishwanath has announced that Dhoni is returning to play in IPL 2026 as well. Vishwanath said, “We can say that Dhoni is coming to Chennai and he has declared himself available to play this season.” However, along with this, a news has also come which may have increased the heartbeats of CSK fans.

In the PTI report quoting CSK sources, it has been said that whether Dhoni will play in all the matches this season or not, it cannot be said at the moment.

A period of change will begin in CSK

Anyway, it will not be surprising if Dhoni does not play all the matches this season because there is a special reason for this. Actually, Chennai Super Kings had made a trade deal with Rajasthan Royals after the last season, in which the franchise sent its star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to Rajasthan and in return included Royals captain Sanju Samson in its team.

With Samson's entry into the team, it became clear that he would be the wicketkeeper of the team in the future. In such a situation, Dhoni and the franchise will start this change from this season itself, due to which it is difficult for Dhoni to play in all the matches.