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IPL playerIndia2008 to 2025

MS Dhoni

Right-hand bat

18
Seasons
277
Matches
5,439
Runs
SR 137.5
0
Wickets
5
Titles
18
Player of the match

From CricArcade's IPL records, 2008 to 2025 · Sources

MS Dhoni, a wicketkeeper-batter, played eighteen IPL seasons for two franchises, and scored 5,439 runs, the 7th-most in IPL history. Five titles came along the way, all of them as captain.

The arrival

MS Dhoni arrived through the auction: Chennai Super Kings paid ₹6 cr (US$1.50m), against a base price of ₹1.60 cr, at the very first IPL auction.

That first season brought 16 matches and 414 runs.

The peak

The high point with the bat was 2013, for Chennai Super Kings: 461 runs at an average of 41.9, striking at 162.9 in a season when the league as a whole struck at 121.5, with 4 fifties, and a highest score of 67 not out. It came in a season as captain. There were four seasons of 400 runs or more in all (2008, 2013, 2018 and 2019).

Measured against the league around it, though, the most destructive season was 2024: 161 runs at a strike rate of 220.6, 70 runs per hundred balls quicker than the IPL as a whole that year.

Franchise by franchise

2008 to 2015, Chennai Super Kings. Bought at the 2008 auction for ₹6 cr. 128 matches and 2,987 runs; captain in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015; champions in 2010 and 2011.

2016 to 2017, Rising Pune Supergiants. Arrived outside the auction. 30 matches and 574 runs; captain in 2016.

2018 to 2025, Chennai Super Kings, second time round. Back outside the auction. 119 matches and 1,878 runs; captain in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023; champions in 2018, 2021 and 2023.

3 spells with two franchises in all. The longest was with Chennai Super Kings, 2008 to 2015.

How the runs came

Across the career, MS Dhoni struck at 137.5. The league around those same seasons, weighted by how much batting each one involved, struck at 130.2, so MS Dhoni scored about 7 runs per hundred balls faster than the typical batter of the time. 57% of the runs came in fours and sixes: 375 fours and 264 sixes, the 4th-most sixes in IPL history.

The ball-by-ball record adds the detail. 33.5% of the balls MS Dhoni faced were dot balls, a lower share than 75% of the 140 batters who have faced 500 balls or more in the IPL. A six came every 15 balls, and a four every 10.6.

The fielding record: 158 catches, 53 run-outs and 47 stumpings, the stumpings a reminder of the gloves.

At the auction

MS Dhoni went under the hammer once. The price was ₹6 cr (US$1.50m), paid by Chennai Super Kings in 2008, more than 3 times the base price.

Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.

The legacy

On the all-time IPL lists, among 810 players, MS Dhoni finished 7th for runs, 3rd for matches played, 4th for sixes and 5th for player-of-the-match awards.

Season by season

Batting, bowling and fielding for each IPL season. SR is strike rate, Econ runs per over, POTM player-of-the-match awards; * not out.
SeasonTeamMRunsHSAvgSR50/100WktsEconBestCtPOTM
2008Chennai Super Kings164146541.4133.62/0–––62Captain
2009Chennai Super Kings1433258*41.5127.22/0–––81Captain
2010Chennai Super Kings1328766*31.9136.72/0–––112Captain, Champions
2011Chennai Super Kings1639270*43.6158.72/0–––101Captain, Champions
2012Chennai Super Kings1835851*29.8128.81/0–––141Captain
2013Chennai Super Kings1846167*41.9162.94/0–––173Captain
2014Chennai Super Kings1637157*74.2148.41/0–––41Captain
2015Chennai Super Kings173725331.0122.01/0–––11Captain
2016Rising Pune Supergiants1428464*40.6135.21/0–––121Captain
2017Rising Pune Supergiant1629061*26.4116.01/0–––131
2018Chennai Super Kings1645579*75.8150.73/0–––141Captain, Champions
2019Chennai Super Kings1541684*83.2134.63/0–––163Captain
2020Chennai Super Kings1420047*25.0116.30/0–––16Captain
2021Chennai Super Kings1611418*16.3106.50/0–––13Captain, Champions
2022Chennai Super Kings1423250*33.1123.41/0–––9Captain
2023Chennai Super Kings1610432*26.0182.50/0–––10Captain, Champions
2024Chennai Super Kings1416137*53.7220.60/0–––10
2025Chennai Super Kings1419630*24.5135.20/0–––111

Franchise journey

Ball-by-ball detail

Career totals from ball-by-ball data, not split by season; included only where they agree exactly with the runs and wickets on this page.
MetricValue
Dot balls faced33.5%
Balls per four10.6
Balls per six15
Catches158
Run-outs53
Stumpings47

At the auction

From the IPL auction archive; prices in lakh and crore of rupees, with the US dollar price for the auctions that were conducted in dollars (2008 to 2013).
AuctionSetBase priceResult
2008Set A₹1.60 crSold to Chennai Super Kings for ₹6 cr (US$1.50m)

Sources