Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) superstar Suresh Raina didn’t hold back while talking about CSK’s auction decisions for IPL 2025. Speaking on Star Sports Raina hinted that MS Dhoni had very little say in the auction table this time and that’s something fans and experts are now seeing clearly with CSK stuck at the bottom of the points table.

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CSK went into the IPL 2025 mega auction with a strong purse of INR 55 crore. They kept a core group intact names like MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, and Matheesha Pathirana but the overall squad composition has raised more questions than answers.

Raina being brutally honest, said, "They (management) always make a call to MS, I remember that. I was never close to the auction planning, to be very honest. I never had a discussion with the management regarding all of this. MS used to get a call sometimes, whether to get a player or not, or make a bid, but he was never fully involved."

The CSK legend also gave huge credit to Dhoni for still putting in the hard yards at 43 years old, even when others aren’t stepping up.

"A 43-year-old captain, who is playing as a brand and for fandom, is putting in the effort. He is keeping wickets at this age, captaining the side, taking the entire weight of the team on his shoulders. What are the other 10 players doing? The 18 crore, 17 crore, 12 crore players are not responding to the captain," Raina pointed out.

He didn’t stop there. Raina made it crystal clear that the way this auction was handled doesn’t feel like Dhoni’s style at all.

"The manner with which they did this auction, you can imagine, Dhoni aisa auction kar hi nahi sakta (Dhoni can never do an auction like this). He will mention the 4-5 players that he wants, that is it," Raina added.