The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stand-in skipper, MS Dhoni turned back the clock in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday, producing a late blitz to fire the team to its second victory of the season. MS Dhoni‘s bat breathed fire, scoring 26 runs off just 11 balls as CSK chased down the target of 167 runs in a last-over thriller. Courtesy of his fireworks at the Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, MS Dhoni was named the Player of the Match.
Thanks to the POTM honour, MS Dhoni has become the oldest player in the T20 league’s history to be given the award, at the age of 43 years and 280 days. He broke an 11-year-old record in the process, surpassing Pravin Tambe to take the No. 1 spot. MS Dhoni, hence, became the first player in the league’s history to be named the Player of the Match at the age of 43.
Tambe held the numero uno spot until Monday, having won the Player of the Match award in IPL 2014 against KKR at an age of 42 years and 208 days. He set the record while playing for the Rajasthan Royals.
CSK beat LSG by by five wickets in IPL 2025
MS Dhoni was adjudged as Player of the Match for scoring 26 runs off 11 balls, including four boundaries and 1 six. MS Dhoni put in a Player of the Match performance to help Chennai Super Kings (CSK) snap their winless streak in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
The five-time champions registered their second win of the season by defeating Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by five wickets on Monday. The right-handed MS Dhoni played an unbeaten 26-run knock off 11 balls to help CSK chase the total down with three balls to spare.
This was MS Dhoni’s first Player of the Match award in the IPL after five years. The former India captain had last won the accolade way back in 2019. During the post-match presentation. MS Dhoni made a candid admission, saying several other options could have gotten a Player of the Match accolade compared to him
MS Dhoni put on an unbeaten stand of 57 runs for the sixth to guide CSK over the line in the final over of the game. The left-handed Dube remained unbeaten on 43 runs off 37 balls.
MS Dhoni expresses himself after winning Player of the Match award after LSG vs CSK match in IPL 2025
Chennai Super Kings snapped their losing streak by beating Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL 2025 match held at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday night. The MS Dhoni-led outfit produced a vastly improved show across departments for a confidence-boosting five-wicket win – their second in seven matches of the season so far. MS Dhoni was one of the star performers for the visitors effecting three dismissals – catch, stumping and a run out – besides blasting an unbeaten 26 off 11 to help CSK chase down 168 in 19.3 overs.
And for his all-round show, Dhoni was picked player-of-the-match – an award he’s won for the first time since IPL 2019 and at 43 years of age is the oldest player to claim it.
However, the five-time IPL winning captain didn’t think he was worthy of the award and indicated it should have been CSK spinner Noor Ahmad instead. Noor was wicketless but he conceded only 13 runs in his 4 over spell
“Even today I was like, ‘Why are they giving me the award?’ I feel Noor bowled really well. With the new ball and when Noor and Jaddu bowled four-five overs together – these were the two phases where we did really well,” Dhoni said.
When asked if he remembers the last time winning player of the match award in IPL, Dhoni replied in the negative and was pleasantly surprised when told it was 2019 against DC at Chepauk.
“That’s long time back!” he said.
CSK were on a five-match losing streak after starting their IPL campaign with a win over Mumbai Indians. They still are languishing at the last spot in the standings, but Dhoni said the win will serve as a confidence-booster.
“It’s good to win a game. When you play a tournament like this, you want to win games. Unfortunately, the (earlier) matches didn’t go our way for whatever reasons. There can be lots of reasons. It’s good to have a win on our side. Gives confidence to the whole team and helps us improve in areas we want to improve,” he said.
 MS Dhoni also expressed elation on finally snapping the winless streak in the ongoing 18th edition of the T20 tournament. In the fixture against LSG, MS Dhoni also became the first player to surpass 200 dismissals as a wicketkeeper in the IPL. Despite this win against Lucknow Super Giants, CSK remain at the bottom of the points table. The franchise will next square off against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on April 20, 2025.
Also Read: PBKS vs KKR: All Eyes On Shreyas Iyer’s Showdown Against His Former Side