Speculation over Dhoni's retirement is rife after CSK's exit.
In a battle for the final IPL 2024 playoffs spot, CSK had to avoid an 18-run defeat against RCB but the defending champions ended up losing the match by 27 runs.
Dhoni fought hard in the death overs and returned with a cameo of 13-ball 25 but he failed to take his team over the line at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday (May 18).
“I think this is it. I do believe that this will be the last time that Dhoni will play. Certainly, won’t be the last time that we see Dhoni. I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t mentor or be a part of the family of CSK in an official capacity,” said Hayden on Star Sports Cricket Live.
“I suppose the thing is when you come to the end of your career, whether it is the last part of his career or not, what you don’t want to see is diminishing returns as an athlete. Firstly, as a leader, he is The Thala of the Chennai Super Kings. This is telling me that nothing here is about becoming anything else other than first place," he added.
Hayden also hailed Dhoni’s match-finishing skills, saying that it's not easy to do the job at the fag end but the veteran wicketkeeper has the brain and the power to do it.
“He’s desperately using his brains, all of that cricket knowledge. And of course, the power is there and that’s always been MS Dhoni. He’s always hit balls at this stage of an innings. At the front, you can understand how players can hit it. But at the back, it’s really hard to hit balls,” he remarked.
Despite battling with calf injury, MS Dhoni’s performance this season was remarkable. He managed to aggregate 161 runs at an average of 53.66 and a staggering strike rate of 220.54 across 11 innings.