Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) retaining MS Dhoni will depend on whether he feels it would be a financially viable option as well. Chopra also added that Dhoni won’t put his name in the auction if he is not retained as well. However, Dhoni smashed 161 runs at a strike rate of 220.54 in 11 innings in IPL 2024 as well. But, he was dismissed poorly in a crucial moment in the last
league game against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), which they lost and eventually failed to reach the playoffs.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “Dhoni’s simple story is that if he wants to stay, he will stay. However, he might think that the money will be wasted if he stays here for three years and there could be problems in retention as eight to 10 crores should be spent on him, but then those won’t be available when you go to the auction. I am not 100 percent certain whether Dhoni will be retained or not. It’s almost guaranteed he won’t go into the auction but will he be retained, will he play, we really don’t know right now.”

“Let’s start with the captain, the prince of this team – Ruturaj. You have to retain him. He is the captain, he is consistent, scored runs this year as well, and you want to invest in him. This team has played under very limited captains. So Ruturaj Gaikwad will be my first retention,” he again shared.

However, Aakash Chopra chose Ruturaj Gaikwad as the first player the CSK should retain. Gaikwad was CSK’s top run-getter in IPL 2024 as well. He also amassed 583 runs at an average of 53.00 and a strike rate of 141.16 in 14 innings as well and Aakash Chopra expects CSK to retain Ravindra Jadeja despite his underwhelming season with both the bat and ball. He then named Matheesha Pathirana and Devon Conway as CSK’s potential overseas retentions as well.

“I am personally not very impressed and happy with Ravindra Jadeja’s performance for the simple reason that his strike rate hasn’t been great in batting. We expected more sixes and wickets from him. However, will you get a player with that skill set again? This team goes a lot with loyalty. So Ravindra Jadeja might be the second player in the retention list,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “The third player should be Matheesha Pathirana. You won’t get a guy like Pathirana again and you want to keep him with you. He is brilliant in all conditions. They might retain Devon Conway because he has consistently done well for them. If they retain him for a decent sum, he can be a long-term prospect.”