IPL 2025: Oldest Player to Win Player of the Match, MS Dhoni Rolls Back the Years in CSK’s Win Over LSG

MS Dhoni became the oldest player to win the Player of the Match award in IPL history as he led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a thrilling five-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday. The CSK veteran turned back time with an unbeaten 26-run blitz off just 11 balls, laced with four boundaries and a six, helping his side chase down the target with three balls to spare and break their winless streak in IPL 2025.

The iconic finisher joined forces with Shivam Dube to stitch together a match-winning unbeaten 57-run stand for the sixth wicket. While Dube anchored the chase with a composed 43* off 37 balls, it was Dhoni’s late cameo that sealed the game for CSK.

This marked Dhoni’s first Player of the Match award in five years, his last coming in 2019. Speaking after the match, the 42-year-old remained as humble as ever, suggesting that others may have been more deserving.

“Even today, I was like, why are they giving me the award? I feel Noor Ahmad bowled well. The new ball bowling and in between when Noor and Jaddu, you know, they bowled like four or five overs together. Those were the two spans, I think, where we did very well,” said Dhoni.

Ahead of the match, CSK made two key changes—Jamie Overton and Shaik Rasheed came into the XI, replacing Devon Conway and Ravichandran Ashwin. Dhoni explained that the decision to rest Ashwin was a tactical one.

“We were actually putting too much pressure on Ash. He has to bowl two overs on wickets that were not doing a lot and the batsmen were just expressing themselves. We made a few changes where we could have more bowlers who were able to bowl in the first six,” he said.

On the revised bowling lineup, Dhoni added:

“And if needed, if the fast bowlers, somebody goes for a run, you have Noor who can drop in with one over. So, I feel this looks like a better attack. You know, there’s more manoeuvrability for the captain.”

Adding to the list of milestones, Dhoni also became the first wicketkeeper in IPL history to complete over 200 dismissals during the match.

Reflecting on the team’s performance and the much-needed win, Dhoni said:

“It’s good to win a game because when you play a tournament like this, you want to win games. Unfortunately, the matches didn’t go our way. Whatever the reason may be, there can be lots of reasons. So, it’s good to have a win on our side. It gives a lot of confidence to the whole team. And it helps us improve in areas where we want to improve. We all knew that when it doesn’t come your way in cricket, God makes it very tough.”

“It was a tough game, but glad to be on the winning side, and hopefully it will give us some momentum,” he added.

Despite the victory, CSK remain at the bottom of the IPL 2025 points table. Their next challenge awaits at the Wankhede Stadium, where they will face rivals Mumbai Indians on April 20.