Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden reckons that the 16th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) will mark the end of MS Dhoni’s professional cricket career.

Dhoni had called time on his international career in 2020 but has continued playing for CSK and will make his return to their homeground in IPL 2023 after a nearly three-year wait.

With the COVID-19 pandemic now on decline, the tournament will go back to the home-and-away format from this season. CSK will play their first home match at the Chepauk on April 3 against the Lucknow Super Giants.

Speaking to Star Sports, Hayden commented on the reception Dhoni would receive at Chepauk.

“It will be an amazing moment. I think last year, we were all under the impression that will MSD come back again. At the close of the IPL season, he made that huge comment to say that he will be back. Now, what that means for all that Yellow Army is that Chennai suddenly galvanized a tad around the superior leader, who has done it for so long. This will, most certainly, I think, be the close of his IPL career. So, those few games at the start are not only going to be key for the fans, his performance is going to be key for CSK this season,” said Hayden.

Former India cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar added to Hayden's comments, saying that Dhoni is the type of player you could have in the team purely based on his leadership skills.

“Look, having watched T20 cricket over the years, especially with the IPL and the kind of pressures that teams feel, I believe that you can have one player in your team on pure leadership. MS Dhoni doesn’t play regularly, so his impact with the bat is not going to be as much as it was in the prime, but somebody like MS Dhoni, with his leadership experience, you can have him in the team, to make a difference with his leadership. And this is a guy who’s had a team that was called the ‘Old Men Playing IPL Together’ and they won that particular season,” said Manjrekar.