Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star Ambati Rayudu has expressed his wish for Rohit Sharma to join the MS Dhoni-led CSK in the 2025 IPL season. Rayudu, who has won the IPL under both Mumbai Indians (MI) and CSK, feels Rohit should move to Chennai in the coming years and increase his trophy count.

Ambati Rayudu on Rohit Sharma potentially leading CSK

Rohit Sharma, who has won the IPL six times, five as MI captain, will not be leading Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024. Instead, Hardik Pandya, who led Gujarat Titans to the title in 2022, has been appointed as the skipper of the franchise. This decision has raised quite a few eyebrows, as Rohit Sharma has been widely credited for Mumbai Indians’ success in the IPL.

Rayudu believes that Rohit Sharma has earned the right to decide whether he wants to lead a team or not. If Rohit decides to join CSK and possibly take up the captaincy, it would add a new chapter to the MI-CSK rivalry. However, at present, there are no talks of Rohit willing to make a move from MI.

“I want to see him play for CSK in the near future. He has played so long for Mumbai Indians. It would be nice if he could play for CSK and win there as well. That’s (captaincy at CSK) upon him. Rohit has earned the right to take that call. It’s his call on whether or not he wants to lead or not,” Rayudu said.

It will be interesting to see how MS Dhoni goes about his IPL 2025 season and whether it would be the legendary captain’s last year as a player in the tournament. He has been working hard on gearing up to lead CSK in the new season after having recovered from a long-standing knee injury. Dhoni underwent surgery to treat the issue last year and underwent rehabilitation.

Dhoni, who has begun training with Chennai Super Kings in the pre-season camp, might hang up his boots at the end of the upcoming season, having confirmed after winning the trophy last year that he would work hard to return to play for CSK as a return gift for his fans.

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