India’s premier T20 tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is back in India after a gap of four years. This year, the matches will take place in their original home-and-away format. In the first match of the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League, the defending champions Gujarat Titans will line up against four-time winners Chennai Super Kings at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday (March 31). The MS Dhoni-led side finished in the second-to-last position in the league table last year and was only able to win just four of the 14 matches played in total. The Chennai-based side lost both of their league stage matches against Hardik Pandya and co. last season, but this year, under the inspirational leadership of Dhoni, they would look to stage a sensational comeback.
During the first match of this year’s IPL, when CSK will take the field against Gujarat, Chennai’s captain, MS Dhoni, will have an opportunity to join the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma on an elite list. The 41-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, who has played in all 15 seasons of the league to date, needs 22 runs to join the star duo and four others on the list of batters who have scored 5000 or more runs in the IPL.
Dhoni, who holds the record for playing the most matches in IPL history, has scored 4978 runs in 234 games so far, and if he scores 22 more on Friday, he will become the seventh cricketer to reach 5000 runs. To date, only Virat (6624), Shikhar Dhawan (6244), David Warner (5881), Rohit Sharma (5879), Suresh Raina (5528), and AB de Villiers (5162) have managed to cross the 5000-run mark.
Top 10 leading run-getters in Indian Premier League
| POSITION | PLAYER | TEAM (In IPL 2023) | MATCHES | RUNS | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | BEST | 100/50 |
| 1. | Virat Kohli | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 223 | 6624 | 36.20 | 129.15 | 113 | 5/44 |
| 2. | Shikhar Dhawan | Punjab Kings | 206 | 6224 | 35.08 | 126.35 | 106* | 2/47 |
| 3. | David Warner | Delhi Capitals | 162 | 5881 | 42.01 | 140.69 | 126 | 4/54 |
| 4. | Rohit Sharma | Mumbai Indians | 227 | 5879 | 30.30 | 129.89 | 109* | 1/40 |
| 5. | Suresh Raina | Chennai Super Kings | 205 | 5528 | 32.52 | 136.76 | 100* | 1/39 |
| 6. | Ab de Villiers | Royal Challengers Bangalore (last played in 2021, now retired) | 184 | 5162 | 39.70 | 151.68 | 133* | 3/40 |
| 7. | MS Dhoni | Chennai Super Kings | 234 | 4978 | 39.20 | 135.20 | 84* | 0/24 |
| 8. | Chris Gayle | Punjab Kings (last played in 2021, now retired) | 142 | 4965 | 39.72 | 148.96 | 175* | 6/31 |
| 9. | Robin Uthappa | Chennai Super Kings (last played in 2022, now retired) | 205 | 4952 | 27.51 | 130.35 | 88 | 0/27 |
| 10. | Dinesh Karthik | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 229 | 4376 | 26.85 | 132.65 | 97* | 0/19 |
Dhoni, who announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15, 2020, has struggled to score big runs in the last three editions of the IPL, but in 2023, which is expected to be his last appearance in the IPL as a player, he would like to produce a good show with the bat as well and by the end of the season break Raina’s record of most runs for CSK in the IPL. The former CSK middle-order batter scored 4687 runs in 176 matches for Chennai in the IPL, whereas Dhoni has 4404 runs in 204 matches.
