RR vs CSK: MS Dhoni struggles his way to a 28-ball 26 in Chennai’s last match in IPL 2022

MS Dhoni scored 26 runs off 28 balls with one four and one six against the Rajasthan Royals on Friday at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai

MS Dhoni had a tough time with the bat in Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) last and final match in the Indian Premier League (IPL). On Friday, May 20, the 40-year-old batter strained to get going against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai as he scored 26 runs off 28 balls with the help of one four and one six.

He came to bat in the 11th over after Yuzvendra Chahal got rid of Ambati Rayudu, who replaced Shivam Dube in CSK’s playing XI. Dhoni was expected to give Chennai’s innings a finishing kick with his brutal stroke-play, but he failed to make much of an impact. Dhoni played until the penultimate over and found it tough to find the boundary.

In the end, Chahal got rid of the veteran batter after the latter unsuccessfully tried to clear the long-on boundary. Jos Buttler took a simple catch to end Dhoni’s stay in the middle.

Prior to the game, Dhoni confirmed that he would be back to take part in the 2023 edition of the IPL. The Jharkhand-born cricketer said that he wanted to bow out after playing in front of the crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, popularly known as the Chepauk.

“Definitely. It's a simple reason: it will be unfair to not play in Chennai and say thank you. Mumbai is one place, where as a team and as an individual I have got a lot of love and affection. But it wouldn't be nice to the CSK fans,” Dhoni was quoted as saying.

And also, hopefully next year there will be an opportunity where the teams will be travelling so it will be a like thank you to all the different places where we will be playing games at different venues. Whether it will be my last year or not that's a big question because you know we can't really predict about something two years down the line, but definitely I'll be working hard to come back strong next year,” he added.