When Mahendra Singh Dhoni was drafted into the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) side in the inaugural IPL auction, nobody would have thought that this single event would be the greatest move made in the history of IPL.
The former captain of CSK stuck on to the yellow jersey for as long as he has been in the tournament, except for the two years of ban when he played for the Rising Pune Supergiant side in 2016 and 2017. Chennai became his second home, and he was given the title “Thala” with all the Yellove from the state’s people.
Dhoni, known for his finishing and captaincy skills, honed all three roles of captain, wicketkeeper, and the lower-order batsman. However, death-over batting records in the tournament.
Captain Cool is also the skipper with the highest-ever success rate in the IPL. To understand what made him the legend he is today, one might need to check his the overall cricketing records.
This article will stick to his yearly batting stats, which will showcase his runs and other stats, year by year, in the IPL.
MS Dhoni IPL Runs Year Wise
| YEAR | TEAM | MATCHES | RUNS | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | HIGH SCORE | 50s/100s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | CSK | 16 | 414 | 41.40 | 133.54 | 65 | 2/0 |
| 2009 | CSK | 14 | 332 | 41.50 | 127.20 | 58* | 2/0 |
| 2010 | CSK | 13 | 287 | 31.88 | 136.66 | 66* | 2/0 |
| 2011 | CSK | 16 | 392 | 43.55 | 158.70 | 70* | 2/0 |
| 2012 | CSK | 19 | 358 | 29.83 | 128.77 | 51* | 1/0 |
| 2013 | CSK | 18 | 461 | 41.90 | 162.89 | 67* | 4/0 |
| 2014 | CSK | 16 | 371 | 74.20 | 148.40 | 57* | 1/0 |
| 2015 | CSK | 17 | 372 | 31.00 | 121.96 | 53 | 1/0 |
| 2016 | RPS | 14 | 284 | 40.57 | 135.23 | 64* | 1/0 |
| 2017 | RPS | 16 | 290 | 26.36 | 116.00 | 61* | 1/0 |
| 2018 | CSK | 16 | 455 | 75.83 | 150.66 | 79* | 3/0 |
| 2019 | CSK | 15 | 416 | 83.20 | 134.62 | 84* | 3/0 |
| 2020 | CSK | 14 | 200 | 25.00 | 116.27 | 47* | 0/0 |
| 2021 | CSK | 16 | 114 | 16.28 | 106.54 | 18* | 0/0 |
| 2022 | CSK | 14 | 232 | 33.14 | 123.40 | 50* | 1/0 |
| 2023 | CSK | 16 | 104 | 26.00 | 182.46 | 32* | 0/0 |
| 2024 | CSK | 14 | 161 | 53.67 | 220.55 | 37* | 0/0 |
| 2025 | CSK | 13 | 196 | 24.50 | 135.17 | 30* | 0/0 |
| OVERALL | 277 | 5439 | 38.30 | 137.45 | 84* | 24/0 |
Key Insights
As you can see in Dhoni’s year-by-year ODI runs tally, the batting average column in the above table stands out. His not-out numbers have been extremely good for a finisher, who usually bats at the end of the innings. As he likes to take games to the very end of the innings, he has been a prime example of how to finish a game with a bang.
Though he hasn’t crossed 500 runs in a single IPL season, he has been incredibly consistent, as he has had nine 300+ runs seasons in the tournament. Check here the batsmen with the most 500+ seasons in the IPL.
461 in 2013 is the highest single-season total for MSD in the IPL. He scored at an average of 41.90 in that season. He batted with a strike rate of 162.89, his best in a year (minimum 200 runs). The four half-century scores he added to his team that year are again his yearly best.
His highest-ever IPL score of 84* came in 2019, when CSK’s rivals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), beat the men in yellow by just one run.
