'MS Dhoni-type Captain Don't Think Will Happen in This Era': Ambati Rayudu on What Makes CSK Icon Unique in IPL

IPL 2026: Veteran cricketer MS Dhoni is just not a cricketer, he is way more than that. To be honest, he is an emotion for fans and he is treated like a demi-god in India. Now that he is in the twilight of his IPL career, his former teammate Ambati Rayudu has revealed why Dhoni is unique. Rayudu claims Dhoni is unique because while everyone plans as per stats, Dhoni does not. As per Rayudu, that has been his greatest asset. 

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‘He would never do something that the stats say’

"Dhoni-type captain I don't think will happen in this era of cricket at least, because people want so much more stats. That's not wrong, because it is also giving you a lot of information. But MS Dhoni was quite unique. And that is the reason why he was very unpredictable, because he would never do something that the stats say. And that has been his greatest asset as well," Rayudu said on The Cricket Monthly. 

"There were a lot of times that MS Dhoni used to tell me, "I will take the bowlers on, you play [within yourself] till the end so that you can hit the fast bowlers, you can use the pace." And even with Pollard that used to happen. We used to run a lot [between wickets]. And he also used to help me, because for me, I don't like playing a lot of dot balls. I'm not a big six-hitter like him, so I had to get myself going. So he used to run," he added citing his personal experiences while playing alongside Dhoni. 

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Will 2026 be Dhoni's Last? 

For years, fans have been speculating over it. Dhoni keeps maintaining that everything boils down to how his body feels. It would be interesting to see how he goes about things in IPL 2026.