The 2026 IPL cricket season is scheduled to start on March 28th. As IPL teams prepare for the launch of the new season, Chennai Super Kings star MS Dhoni has a new venture that was just announced.
Although we only have the first half of the schedule available to us, the 2026 season is promising to be interesting, to say the least.
Between Dhoni’s new venture and the speculation of a new role within CSK, it’s promising to be an interesting IPL season for the legendary cricketer.
MS Dhoni Announced as New Brand Ambassador
On March 18th, 2026, NPCI BHIM Services Limited (NBSL) appointed Dhoni as the brand ambassador for the BHIM Payments app. The CEO of NBSL released a statement as part of the announcement.
“As digital payments continue to scale in India, the next phase of growth is about strengthening preferences and deepening user confidence,” Lalitha Nataraj said via India Technology News. “With onboarding MS Dhoni as our brand ambassador, our objective is to position BHIM Payments App not just as a payments option but as the preferred app for each member in the Indian household.”
“As BHIM Payments App enters its next phase of growth, trust remains at the centre of everything we do. Dhoni represents that same trust, built over time.”
The statement goes on to explain what makes this a great app by saying, “The App’s feature set has been built with inclusion at its core, supporting 15+ regional languages. It is optimised for low-connectivity environments, enabling deeper digital payments adoption across rural and semi-urban user groups.”
Speculation of MS Dhoni’s IPL Future
There are health concerns for Dhoni, as he is 44-years-old now. However, AB de Villiers believes that Dhoni must bat higher up the order or be removed from CSK’s playing XI.
“If he is going to play the role of batting at No. 8 or No. 9, and not really captaining, then I just feel it’s almost making up a spot and just almost there for the wrong reasons,” Villiers said to JioHotStar. “There’s still a place for him, but he needs to bat higher. At least at six, maybe even at five or four at times. I feel that in the last few years, his role has purely been about keeping that brand as strong as possible.”
“That’s why I don’t see a role for him batting at eight or nine and not really doing enough.”
Dhoni’s days of knocking 300+ runs in an IPL season are behind him.
In 2025, he recorded 196 runs, which included 12 fours and 12 sixes. Dhoni’s highest score was 30. The last time he recorded 300 or more runs in an IPL season was in 2019. Dhoni knocked 416 runs that year.
In the six seasons since then, he’s only hit 200 or more runs twice.
Surprisingly, in Dhoni’s 18-year IPL career, he has never hit a century. His highest score is 84 runs, a feat he achieved during the 2019 season.
Dhoni’s best work came in the 2013 season. He finished the year with 461 total runs, 32 fours, 25 sixes, and four 50s.
On the leaderboard for lifetime runs scored in the IPL, Dhoni sits sixth with 5439 runs. Only Suresh Raina, David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli have hit more runs in the IPL.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post MS Dhoni Makes Announcement As New IPL Season Looms appeared first on Heavy Sports.