There’s a debate brewing around MS Dhoni ahead of IPL 2026 and this time, it’s coming from people who know the game cold. AB de Villiers thinks CSK might be doing Dhoni a disservice by keeping him in the side if he’s only going to bat at number eight or nine. “If he is going to play the role of batting at No. 8 or No. 9, and not really captaining, then I just feel it’s almost making up a spot and just almost there for the wrong reasons,” the former South African star said on Star Sports. His point was blunt: trophies come from teams, not names. He called out Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson as the pair best placed to lead CSK’s batting future.
Cheteshwar Pujara sees it differently. He agrees that batting Dhoni down at eight or nine makes little sense but for the opposite reason. Dhoni, in his view, is still too dangerous to waste. “He has the potential to turn games around single-handedly, something no other batter in the CSK team can do. If he bats for only five or ten balls, imagine what Mahi bhai can do if he plays 25 or 30 balls,” Pujara said on JioStar. So both men are bothered by the same thing Dhoni batting too low but they’re drawing very different conclusions from it.
Also Read:IPL 2026: Josh Hazlewood And Pat Cummins Set To Miss Early Matches, Blow For RCB And SRH
The backdrop to all this is CSK’s signing of Samson ahead of this season. He’s expected to open the batting, and the franchise clearly bought him as a long-term answer to the wicketkeeper-batter slot. Dhoni remains the first-choice keeper for now and still carries an unofficial leadership presence in the field, even with Gaikwad holding the captain’s title. CSK get their campaign underway against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on Sunday, March 29.
