Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be back to doing what he is most proficient and skillful at — leading Chennai Super Kings. He will be back in the hot seat for the remainder of IPL 2025 after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out for the rest of the season with an elbow fracture.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development on the eve of their home game against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday.
Dhoni, who led CSK to five IPL titles, faces a tall task after they made a poor start to their campaign, losing four of their five matches to be placed ninth in the 10-team league.
Gaikwad suffered the injury during their match against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on March 30 but played two more games.
“He (Gaikwad) got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” Fleming said in Chennai. “We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.
“So we’re disappointed and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but unfortunately, he’d be out of the tournament from now. We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL.”
A little before the announcement came through, former India captain Sourav Ganguly had vouched for Dhoni to be reinstated as CSK captain to revive their fortunes.
“MS Dhoni can still get sixes. We saw that in the other game. Obviously, he’s 43 years old.
“We don’t expect to see the MS Dhoni of 2005. That’s quite natural. But I think he’s still got the power to clear and hit,” Sourav said at a promotional in Calcutta.
“I saw him play the other day, versus Punjab, and he did hit a few sixes. And I think with all his experience, all that he’s achieved... If MS Dhoni has to play for CSK, he must be the captain... Because MS Dhoni, the captain, is a different beast.”
Dhoni had led CSK from 2008 until 2024 before he handed over the captaincy to Gaikwad. Ravindra Jadeja had also taken over the mantle of leadership in 2022, but had to give it up midway through the season after the team went through a lean phase.
Dhoni has captained CSK in 235 of their 268 matches, winning the IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 and two Champions League T20 trophies as well.
“He (Dhoni) had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can,” Fleming said. “So that was never a doubt. We’ll look at replacements (for Gaikwad). We’ve got some good players in the squad who have been with us a while, so we’ll look from within first.”
Gaikwad was CSK’s second-highest run-scorer this season with 122 at a strike-rate of 150.61.
