Dhoni to lead CSK; Gaikwad ruled out of IPL with elbow injury

MS Dhoni will captain Chennai Super Kings for the remainder of IPL 2025 after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the rest of the season with an elbow injury.

CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development on the eve of the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday.

It is a significant blow to CSK, who have made a bad start to their campaign by losing four of their first five matches. They are currently ninth in the points table, above Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Gaikwad suffered the injury during CSK’s match against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on March 30.

He was struck on his unprotected elbow after stepping out to fast bowler Tushar Deshpande and missing the ball in the second over of CSK’s unsuccessful chase, but continued batting and scored 63 in that game.

He played two more games after that and made 5 against Delhi Capitals in Chennai on April 5 and 1 against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on April 8.

After five games, he was CSK’s second highest run-scorer with 122 runs at a strike rate of 150.61; he has been their highest run-scorer for CSK in IPL 2024.

“He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” CSK head coach Stephen 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.”

Dhoni, 43, had led CSK from 2008 until 2024, when he handed the captaincy to Gaikwad.

He had also handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but took back the leadership midway through the season after the team went through a bad run of results.

Under Dhoni’s captaincy, CSK have won five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 and two Champions League 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. We’ve got some good players in the squad that have been with us a while, so we’ll look from within first. But yeah, there is an opportunity to see how we can enhance the squad probably moving forward into subsequent years.”

After their home game against KKR on Friday, CSK play two away games against Lucknow Super Giants on April 14 and Mumbai Indians on April 20. (ESPNcricinfo)