CHENNAI: Indian coach

made it clear on Tuesday that

's international career is far from over. "It all depends on when he starts playing and how he is playing during the IPL...The

becomes a massive tournament because that could be the last tournament after which more or less your 15 (for the World T20) is decided," Shastri said.

It indicated that Dhoni, who hasn't played any competitive cricket since the 50-over World Cup in England, is pretty much in the national reckoning for the Worlds in December.

While that's good news for Dhoni's fans, there's even better news for the

loyalists because, for the Jharkhand maverick, the 2020 IPL won't be his last. According to well-placed sources, the former India captain has told his franchise owners that he will play the 2021 edition of the IPL as well.

"There will be a big auction before the 2021 IPL and Dhoni has already told us that he will play the tournament. So there's no question of his retirement from the T20 version anytime soon," a CSK source told TOI.

Dhoni, for whom CSK had to cough up Rs 15 crores, is so committed to the franchise's cause that he has proposed to the management that he doesn't want the owners to retain him.

"He wants to go back to the auction pool for the big auction that will take place ahead of the 2021 season. That will give CSK the option of using the Right-to-Match card to pick him, may be for a lower price. Being the captain he is, Dhoni is ready to sacrifice money for the CSK cause," the source added.

But the CSK management has told their captain that he may well be retained. "We know what Dhoni means to us. We may not let him go back to the auction pool," it was told.

While Dhoni has already started practising, it is clear that retirement is nowhere in Dhoni's scheme of things at the moment. Sources indicated that Dhoni is quite focused about the 2020 IPL as well and Shastri's words are an indicator that the team management is not totally in the dark about his plans going forward.

"There has been a perception that the Indian team management doesn't know what Dhoni is doing, but it may not be completely true. If he has a good IPL, he will very much be part of India's scheme of things in the T20 World Cup in December," the source added.

While India is still in Dhoni's radar, the right-hander's plans are to help in the rebuilding of the CSK team after the 2020 edition. CSK have many senior players in the team like

,

,

,

, for whom the 2020 edition will be the last. Dhoni will oversee the rebuilding process and play the first year with the new team to give it the stability.

"It will be after the 2021 IPL that the question of retirement will come, if at all...And even if he retires, Dhoni will always be the mentor of CSK," the source added.