What's next for MS Dhoni? The former India captain and Chennai Super Kings veteran exited the IPL 2025, keeping fans on tenterhooks. For the last few years, Dhoni has kept his options open, admitting that he would take a call depending on how his body is holding up close to the next IPL season.

By his own admission, with each passing year, Dhoni's training becomes that much tougher, and IPL 2026 wouldn't be any different. He would be 44, touching 45 by next edition, and only he'll know how his body is holding up. For all you know, Dhoni will return to CSK next year, but whether as a player or in any other capacity, only time will tell.

One role that both CSK and Indian cricket team fans have eagerly envisioned for Dhoni is the opportunity to take on coaching. Now let's get one thing clear: Dhoni has never coached any team. The closest he came to it was at the 2021 T20 World Cup, for which MSD was appointed mentor of the Indian cricket team. And we all know how that turned out. Coaching and mentoring a team are like apples and oranges. So, while Dhoni the coach is a theory still very far-fetched, a chance at mentoring a team cannot be ruled out, feels former India pacer Atul Wassan.

"I think he is fit for a mentor, but for coaching, Dhoni does not have patience. Because you know if he becomes a coach, then his lifestyle will keep looping the same way, like touring with the team and all that. Why would he want all that?" he said on the Bails and Banter show on OTTPlay.

'Coaching is for control-fixed people like Gautam Gambhir'

As Wassan aptly noted, coaching a team is as demanding as being a player, except for the on-field action. It involves constant travel with the team, which is why Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid chose not to extend their contracts. It took a heavy physical toll and kept them away from their families for extended periods. India's current head coach, Gautam Gambhir has a contract that runs up to the 2027 World Cup. Whether he gets an extension will depend on his results, but does Wassan see Dhoni and GG's successor, well… to put it in MSD's words… definitely not.

"No, coaching is for people who are control-fixed, like Gautam Gambhir, because he needs importance but mentoring is like 'come, have a sit, let's eat together,' and some players actually approach you. So you don't have to be the mentor, but there is mentoring going on around the whole universe of cricket. People who are close to you will approach you and take advice, whether you are a mentor or not," he pointed out.

Dhoni is currently in Ranchi after CSK finished 10th in the points table and with the wooden spoon, and he is believed to be enjoying bike rides as promised. He has four months to decide his future, with CSK fans hoping he'll stay on until the franchise secures its sixth IPL title.