'Definitely' Not Retiring, Will Come Back To Play Next Season: CSK Skipper MS Dhoni

"Everybody is picking jerseys from me, thinking that I'll retire from the shorter format too, now that I've retired from international cricket. But definitely not, IPL 2021 is just a few months away," Dhoni said

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni ruled out all speculations of him retiring from the Indian Premier League anytime in the near future and said that that he will very much be back to play and lead 3-time champs CSK in the next edition of the tournament in 2021.

Dhoni's comments over his future in the IPL came after Chennai Super Kings defeated Kings Eleven Punjab by nine wickets and knocked the Punjab franchise out of the thirteenth edition of the marquee T20 league on Sunday. The win over KXIP happened to be the third straight win for CSK and ended their otherwise dismal campaign in the tournament on a high note.

Dhoni underlined the fact that he is not retiring anytime soon and reiterated that since the next IPL (IPL 2021)  is just a few months away, it allows him to prepare and come back stronger.

"Everybody is picking jerseys from me, thinking that I'll retire from the shorter format too, now that I've retired from international cricket. But definitely not, IPL 2021 is just a few months away," Dhoni said.
MS Dhoni said that there was a general notion among the cricketing circles that he could be retiring since he was seen giving away quite a few of his signed Chennai Super Kings Number 7 jerseys to star players in the opposition teams like Pandya Brothers of Mumbai and RR's Jos Buttler among others at the end of their matches in the UAE.

With the 40-year old Dhoni already having retired from international cricket and and lot of talk over the future of the aging CSK squad, there have been growing speculations over MS Dhoni's future in the IPL.

CSK Will Need To Revamp Ahead Of IPL 2021: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni added that CSK will have to go for a revamp before next season and make the best possible use of the auction, which is likely to be held sometime before IPL 2021. The 3-time IPL winning skipper added that while the franchise looks to retain its core nucleas, it was time to pass the baton to the youngsters with a view to look at the future.

It is still not clear whether BCCI will go ahead with the mega auction as scheduled or have a mini-auction, considering the situation due to the pandemic.

"A lot depends on what BCCI decides about the auction. We need to slightly change our core group and looks for the next ten years. At the start of the IPL, we made a team that served us well for ten years. It's time to hand it over to the next generation," Dhoni said.