Will the Chennai Super Kings’ long-standing love affair continue for another year? With plenty of trade deals confirmed and rumors still to come ahead of Saturday’s retention deadline, the big question still remains about the former India captain, and currently uncapped member of CSK’s squad. Thursday night, in a social media post, the team posted a video of their mascot Leo answering phone calls asking the same question in several languages: Will Thala play next season?
The post reads: “You all asked in every known language. Leo still chooses — – ·-· ··· ·” (The last part of the message is Morse code written in Morse code.) The video ends with Leo posting a message encoded in Morse code on a black T-shirt. The first three lines of Morse code, including space separators, and the last line minus space separators, are as follows:
one
last
time
?
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The question mark at the end which is ..–.. simply means a question mark, which means it is not official yet whether the legendary CSK veteran is ready for another season. CSK’s official stance last week was that they hope Dhoni will feature in the upcoming edition. The 44-year-old, who took over as captain last season after Ruturaj Gaikwad was injured, has not announced his intentions yet. But according to franchise CEO Kasi Viswanathan, the door is still open for him to continue as a member of the team.
You have all asked in every known language.
Leo still chooses — — ·-···· · 😉✨#Leo hotline #WhistlePodu pic.twitter.com/TSylWZZdZC
– Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) November 13, 2025
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“We hope he plays. He hasn’t said no yet, so we expect him to play next season as well,” Viswanathan said last Friday. With franchisees having to formalize their holding by November 15 ahead of the auction scheduled to be held later this year, the social media handle posted the teaser in Morse code. After occupying last place in the standings last season with four wins and ten defeats, the five-time league champion is preparing to carry out a partial reform in the team. As far as Dhoni is concerned, his contribution has been limited, as he mostly preferred to come in the backfield of the batting innings, with a few overs remaining.
While Urvil Patel is there as a backup option for the wicket-keeper, the franchise has been in talks with Rajasthan Royals over a potential trade for Sanju Samson, which is now set to take place with Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran moving in the other direction. Neither franchise has confirmed the trade yet.
Speaking at an event in August, Dhoni said CSK was more or less sorted on the batting front but admitted that the team had holes that needed to be plugged. “There were some holes we needed to fill. I think our batting order is completely sorted out now. Ruto (Gaikwad) will be back. Mini-auction is coming in December. You know there are some holes, we will try to fill them. But again, you have to be at your best at the start of the tournament. You have to get the planning right. You have to use the resources in the best possible way. Even the fans are disappointed, but it’s also the truth that players are always more disappointed than they are,” he said. “So we are talking about processes. But at the same time here, we want the result to come to our side. That was not the case last year. But looking to the future, we will try to solve most of the things. Hopefully, we will be at our best,” Dhoni said.
(tagged for translation) MS Dhoni IPL 2026
