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Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming says he has "no idea" if veteran captain MS Dhoni is set to retire but says the 43-year-old is "still going strong".

Iconic former India and CSK skipper Dhoni, who famously led his country to the World Cup title in 2011, is playing his 18th Indian Premier League season but in a bit-part role.

His parents were attendance as he played in Saturday's 25-run defeat by Delhi Capitals, leading to online speculation the wicketkeeper could retire.

"I'm just enjoying working with him still," New Zealander Fleming said.

"He's still going strong. I don't even ask these days."

Dhoni retired from India duty in 2020, having played 90 Tests, 350 one-day internationals and 98 T20s.

He hit the winning runs in India's 2011 victory at home and also led his side to wins in the 2007 T20 world title and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

Since then he has continued to play for CSK in the IPL and led them to the title for a fifth time in 2023.

Chennai's home defeat by Delhi was their third in four matches this season, however Dhoni ended 30 not out from 26 balls in their chase of 184 as his side ended well short on 158-5.

Once one of the game's great finishers, Dhoni came in at number seven - two places higher than he batted earlier in the tournament in defeat by Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

After that match, Fleming said he "can't bat 10 overs" because "his knees aren't what they used to be".

Jonty Colman
BBC Sport journalist

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India's KL Rahul (77) inspired Delhi Capitals as they continued their winning start to their Indian Premier League campaign with a 25-run victory over Chennai Super Kings in Chennai.

Wicketkeeper-batter Rahul, scored 77 runs off 51 balls that included six fours and three sixes to give the Capitals their third win in as many matches.

Batting first, the visitors got off to a poor start when opener Jake Fraser-McGurk was dismissed after five balls without scoring.

From there, Rahul took charge and built quick-scoring partnerships with Abishek Porel (33), captain Axar Patel (21), Sameer Rizvi (20) and Tristan Stubbs (24 not out) to post a total of 183-6 after 20 overs.

Khaleel Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for the Super Kings, returning figures of 2-25 from his four overs.

In response, the Super Kings lost their New Zealand opening duo of Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway cheaply.

Australia international Mitchell Starc removed Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad for five before impact substitute Shivam Dube holed out on 18.

Vijay Shanakar was the Super Kings' shining light with the bat, making an unbeaten 69 off 54 balls and putting on a 84-run partnership with MS Dhoni (30 not out) as Chennai finished 158-5 from their 20 overs.

The Capitals' first win over the Super Kings since 2010 moves them two points clear at the top of the IPL table, while the Super Kings remain eighth.

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Australia's Mitchell Marsh smashed 60 from just 31 balls at the top of the order to set up Lucknow Super Giants' comfortable 12-run win over Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

Marsh was used as an impact player and registered his third half-century in four innings as Lucknow posted 203-8.

The chase went to the final over but with 22 required from it, Lucknow seamer Avesh Khan held his nerve as Mumbai fell short on 191-5, with captain Hardik Pandya unbeaten on 28.

Lucknow raced to 69-0 inside the six-over powerplay, with Marsh scoring 60 of those runs and Aiden Markram had just seven.

Makram went on to score 53 from 38 balls before cameos of 31 from Ayush Badoni and 27 from David Miller helped them past 200, while Hardik took 5-36.

Mumbai lost openers Will Jacks and Ryan Rickelton cheaply, but Naman Dhir's 46 and an entertaining 67 from 43 balls from Suryakumar Yadav kept them in contention.

But his dismissal left 52 runs required from the final four overs and swung the game back in Lucknow's favour, and they closed out the victory with spinner Digvesh Singh Rathi bowling a brilliant spell of 1-21.

The result takes Lucknow to sixth in the table while Mumbai are in seventh with just one win from four matches so far.

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Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders secured a comfortable 80-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, who slipped to the bottom of the Indian Premier League (IPL) table.

Set a target of 201, Sunrisers' powerful but inconsistent top order failed as they slipped to 9-3 and 66-5 before being bowled out for 120 in 16.4 overs.

Australia's Travis Head fell for four from the second ball of the chase while Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan were both dismissed for two.

Sunrisers had a glimmer of hope with destructive South Africa batter Heinrich Klaasen in the middle but his dismissal for 33 in the 15th over all-but secured a vital win for KKR, who were bottom of the table going into the match.

KKR chose seamer Vaibhav Arora as their impact player and he starred with figures of 3-29, including the wickets of Head and Klaasen, while spinner Varun Chakravarthy took 3-22.

Earlier, KKR's 200-6 came from a late flourish of 78 runs scored from the final five overs of their innings. Venkatesh Iyer struck 60 from 29 balls with seven fours and three sixes, while Rinku Singh made an unbeaten 32 from 17.

They capitalised on a platform set by skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who added a third-wicket stand of 81 following the early departures of openers Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine.

Sunrisers started their IPL campaign by posting 286, the tournament's second-highest total of all time, but have since lost three matches in a row.

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Jos Buttler said he was motivated by his dropped catch of England team-mate Phil Salt as he hit 73 not out to lead Gujarat Titans to victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Buttler put down a regulation chance to dismiss Salt in the first over and later missed a stumping of Liam Livingstone, another England team-mate, who went on top score with 54 in the hosts 169-8.

Buttler joked that the drop was "Herschelle Gibbs-style" - a reference to the South Africa international who dropped Australia's Steve Waugh during the 1999 World Cup as he moved to throw the ball in the air in celebration.

"I was pretty embarrassed," said Buttler.

"The only thing I can think of is I was trying to throw it [the catch] up a bit early [to celebrate]. I barely got a glove on it. It hit me in the chest.

"Due to that embarrassment I was pretty determined to score some runs."

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Punjab Kings made it two wins from two in the Indian Premier League by beating Lucknow Super Giants by eight wickets.

Prabhsimran Singh struck 69 from 34 and captain Shreyas Iyer hit an unbeaten 52 off 30 as Kings chased down their target of 172 in the 17th over.

Having won the toss, Iyer put Super Giants into bat, reducing the home side to 35-3 in the fifth over with Mitchell Marsh dismissed for a golden duck, caught by Marco Jansen off the bowling of Arshdeep Singh.

Ayush Badoni anchored his side's rebuild, adding 54 with Nicholas Pooran, who top-scored with 44, then 30 with David Miller and 47 with Abdul Samad.

Both Badoni and Samad fell to Arshdeep within three balls in the final over, the seamer finishing with figures of 3-43 in Super Giants' innings of 171-7.

Kings lost Priyansh Arya for eight in their reply, but Prabhsimran struck nine fours and three sixes at a strike rate over 200 before being caught by Ravi Bishnoi with a smart relay catch on the boundary.

The wicket left the visitors 110-2 just after the halfway stage and Iyer pushed on alongside Nehal Wadhera (43 not out from 25) to secure the win, with his fourth six simultaneously ending the match and bringing up his half-century.

Kings move up to second in the table, while Lucknow slip three places to sixth after winning one of their three games.

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In terms of debuts, Ashwani Kumar's could have hardly gone better.

The 23-year-old was called into action almost immediately on his Indian Premier League debut, leaping to catch the dangerous Kolkata Knight Riders opener Quinton de Kock.

But that was just the start - called to bowl in the fourth over, Ashwani had opposition Ajinkya Rahane caught from his first ball. Rahane has 195 caps for India, Ashwani had played just 10 matches in his senior career.

The left-arm seamer went on to take 4-24 from three overs as MI dismissed KKR for 116, a total they chased down with ease.

He had Rinku Singh caught by Naman Dhir, then produced superb balls to uproot the stumps of Manish Pandey and Andre Russell.

"I am really, really happy for the young kid," said Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya.

"It is all scouts - they picked him. They have gone to all the places and picked these young kids.

"We played a practice game, he had that zip, that late swing, something off the wicket, a different action and he was a leftie.

"We just thought because of the options he had and he has good death options - we just backed him and the way he took that wicket of Russell was a very crucial wicket, and how he started with the catch of de Kock, it was terrific to see a fast bowler jumping that high to take a catch!"

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Seamer Ashwani Kumar took 4-24 on his Indian Premier League debut to help Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets.

The left-armer was the star of the show as the 2024 champions KKR were dismissed for 116 in 16.2 overs.

Mumbai easily chased down their target with 43 balls to spare, as opener Ryan Rickelton made an unbeaten 62 to help his side record their first win in this year's tournament.

KKR endured a horror start to their innings, losing openers Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock for a duck and one respectively, slipping to 2-2.

Ashwani, who was playing in just his fifth senior T20, soon got in on the act, seeing KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane caught at backward point from his first ball in the competition.

He would then have caught Rinku Singh caught in a similar area, before bowling impact sub Manish Pandey and the dangerous Andre Russell.

The 23-year-old did not even get a chance to bowl a fourth over as Mitchell Santner wrapped up the innings with the dismissal of Ramandeep Singh, who edged to short third.

Rickelton and Rohit Sharma put on 46 for the opening wicket before the latter toe-ended a shot to Harshit Rana at mid-off off Russell's bowling.

England's Will Jacks added 16 before he was caught impressively by Rahane at cover to hand Russell a second wicket.

But by that point the match was already over as a contest, and Suryakumar Yadav closed the game in style, hitting Russell for consecutive fours then a six a few balls later, finishing the innings in the 13th over.

The result means MI rise from the bottom of the table to sixth, and are replaced by KKR, whose net run-rate has dropped to -1.428.

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Legendary India wicketkeeper MS Dhoni "can't bat for 10 overs" during the Indian Premier League, says Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming.

Dhoni, 43, is continuing to play in the tournament despite not playing any other cricket and has come in at eight, nine and seven in CSK's first three games.

He only faced two balls in the first game which Chennai won, before he made 30 from 16 in vain in their defeat by Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

The right-hander then came in in the 16th over and made 16 from 11 before being dismissed as CSK slipped to a six-run defeat by Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.

Over his stellar career Dhoni has earned a reputation as one of the game's great finishers with the bat but his strike-rate has declined over recent years.

"It's a time thing - MS judges it," said Fleming. "His knees aren't what they used to be. He's moving OK, but there's still an attrition aspect to it.

"He can't bat 10 overs running full stick, so he will gauge on the day what he can give us.

"If the game's in the balance, he will go a little bit earlier, and he backs other players when other opportunities are up. It's about balancing that.

"I said last year he's too valuable and leadership wise to throw him in after nine or 10 overs - he's never done that. From around 13/14 he's looking to go depending on who is in."

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England fast bowler Jofra Archer took his first wicket in this year's Indian Premier League as Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by six runs.

Archer chalked up the most expensive figures in IPL history - 0-76 from four overs - in his first match of the 2025 tournament against Sunrisers Hyderabad a week ago.

His second outing for the Royals versus Kolkata Knight Riders last Wednesday was not much better as his 2.3 wicketless overs were dispatched for 33.

However, the 29-year-old bowled with pace and aggression to finish with 1-13 from three overs in a gritty win over CSK as Rajasthan registered their first victory of the campaign.

Archer conceded just one run in his first two overs and became the first player to bowl a maiden in this year's IPL.

It set the tone for Rajasthan in the field as CSK were kept in check by a disciplined bowling and fielding display.

CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad made 63 off 44 balls but he was one of four wickets to fall to Royals spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (4-35).

However, with master finisher Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the crease, 20 needed off the last six balls, and a frenzied yellow wall roaring him on, CSK still had hope.

Royals skipper Riyan Parag opted to give Sandeep Sharma the final over of the game, instead of Archer, and he got the job done.

Dhoni whacked his first legal delivery to deep mid-wicket where Shimron Hetmyer took a spectacular catch before Sandeep kept his nerve to close out the game.

Earlier, Nitish Rana clubbed a 36-ball 81 and Parag 37 made off 28 as Rajasthan posted 182-9 from their 20 overs.

Noor Ahmad and Matheesha Pathirana both finished with 2-28 from their four overs for the Super Kings who had battled back gamely after Rana had got Rajasthan off to a flyer.

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The Indian Premier League is in full swing and BBC Radio 5 Live will continue to bring you commentary throughout the tournament.

Commentaries will be available on BBC Sounds, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website and app (available to UK users only).

Here is the schedule for this week:

Sunday, 30 March: Delhi Capitals v Sunrisers Hyderabad (11:00 BST) & Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings (15:00 BST - concludes online-only).

Monday, 31 March: Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders (15:00 BST)

Tuesday, 1 April: Lucknow Super Giants v Punjab Kings (15:00 BST)

Wednesday, 2 April: Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Gujarat Titans (15:00 BST)

Thursday, 3 April: Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad (15:00 BST)

All times are match start times and are subject to change.

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Gujarat Titans eased to a 36-run victory over Mumbai Indians to notch up their first win in this year's Indian Premier League.

Opener Sai Sudharsan continued his impressive start to the tournament with a second consecutive half-century as his 63 off 41 balls provided the backbone of Gujarat's total of 196-8.

Titans captain Shubman Gill and England's Jos Buttler, who made a half-century in his first IPL outing of 2025, also chipped in with 38 off 27 balls and 39 off 24 respectively.

Hardik Pandya led the way with the ball for MI at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad with 2-29.

Five-time IPL champions Mumbai suffered an early setback in their chase when Mohammed Siraj (2-34) removed openers Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton cheaply.

Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma rebuilt with a patient third-wicket stand of 62 before the latter was snared for 39 by Prasidh Krishna, who bagged a miserly 2-18 from his four overs.

MI's hopes effectively rested on whether Suryakumar and Hardik could accelerate at the business end of the match as the run-rate climbed.

So when Suryakumar hit Prasidh into the hands of long-off in the 16th over to depart for 48, and Mumbai skipper Hardik perished softly to Kagiso Rabada for 11 six balls later, the game was over as a contest.

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Former South Africa coach Russell Domingo has taken over from Darren Gough as head coach of Lahore Qalandars for the 2025 Pakistan Super League.

Ex-England and Yorkshire fast bowler Gough, 54, was in charge of the Qalandars for the 2024 season, but they finished bottom of the table with just one win.

However, Gough said on Wednesday he was unavailable for this year's tournament, external due to "personal commitments".

Domingo, who coached South Africa from 2012 to 2017 and Bangladesh from 2019 to 2022, said he was "privileged" to take on the role with the Qalandars.

"I can't wait to get to work, meet the players and get to the know the management and start preparations for what promises to be an amazingly exciting campaign," Domingo said.

Qalandars start their PSL campaign against Quetta Gladiators at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on 13 April.

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru made it two wins from two at the start of the Indian Premier League with a 50-run victory over five-time champions Chennai Super Kings.

RCB, still chasing their first IPL title, battled their way to 197-7 and then impressively restricted their hosts to 146-8.

England opener Phil Salt provided a fast start with 32 from 16 balls while Virat Kohli played more conservatively for 31 from 30.

Skipper Rajat Patidar was dropped twice en route to 51 from 32 and Tim David added a late boost with three sixes in the final over bowled by England international Sam Curran to end 22 not out off eight balls.

David's Australia team-mate Josh Hazlewood then took two wickets in the second over of the chase and CSK never recovered.

Curran struggled for eight from 13 balls until he hit England team-mate Liam Livingstone, who finished with 2-28, to long-on.

New Zealand batter Rachin Ravindra was the highest scorer with 41. MS Dhoni ended on 30 not out, in the process becoming CSK's highest run-scorer in the IPL.

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Most runs for Chennai Super Kings in IPL

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1. MS Dhoni - 4,699 runs, 204 innings

2. Suresh Raina - 4,687 runs, 171 innings

3. Faf du Plessis - 2,721 runs, 86 innings

4. Ruturaj Gaikwad - 2,433 runs, 67 innings

5. Ravindra Jadeja - 1,939 runs, 127 innings