Amid swirling speculations over MS Dhoni's stay in the CSK for the upcoming IPL season, franchise owner N Srinivasan has on Monday made a major announcement that had allayed the speculations that were sceptical about Dhoni's captaincy with the CSK, that had recorded a glorifying victory in the IPL 2021 finals and lifted the trophy for the fourth time.

The Men in Yellow have been flooded with salutes and commendations from across and beyond the borders for their grit in triumphing the title. After winning the title, Dhoni has now joined the Indian T20 team as a mentor for the ongoing T20 Cricket World Cup hosted by the United Arab Emirates. On Monday, Srinivasan and the leadership team of the CSK had visited Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam temple in T Nagar, Chennai.

He had carried the IPL trophy to the temple and offered prayers. Srinivasan was accompanied by Rupa Gurunath, the chairwoman of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, and Viswanathan, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chennai Super Kings. After offering the prayers, Srinivasan has addressed the reporters during which he ended the speculations about Dhoni's playing with the franchise in the upcoming season.

He said that after the T20 world cup, Dhoni will visit Chennai and will take part in the ceremony that will be held at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai where he will share the IPL trophy with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. Commenting on the speculations about Dhoni's future with the CSK, Srinivasan has affirmed that Dhoni is and has been a part of Chennai Super Kings, Chennai, and Tamil Nadu. 

"There is no CSK without Dhoni and there is no Dhoni without CSK", Srinivasan added. Responding to a question of why there was no single player from Tamil Nadu in CSK, the owner of the franchise has said that the TNPL (Tamil Nadu Premier League) has produced 13 players to play in the IPL games and in other international tournaments. TNPL has been gaining more spectators and it will grow stronger. On the other hand, Srinivasan has refused to keep his affirmation that Suresh Raina will stay with the Men in Yellow franchise in the upcoming season.