Dhoni to lead CSK, Ruturaj Gaikwad ruled out of IPL
MS Dhoni will again be taking up captaincy duties for CSK. (Photo credit: BCCI)MS Dhoni will captain Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the rest of the IPL 2025 season after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the tournament due to an elbow injury.
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Gaikwad was ruled out on the eve of Chennai’s home fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). This comes as a huge blow to CSK who have already lost four out of five games in the IPL and are at the ninth place in the Points Table.
“He got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” 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.”
Your so called finished 43 year old Dhoni has more sixes in this IPL than
— AnishCSKđź’› (@TheAnishh) April 9, 2025
– Hardik HardHitting Pandya
– Mumbaicha raja Rohit
– Insta King Kohli
– Prince Gill
– Travis monster Head
– 27 cr. Pant
– Rinku King
pic.twitter.com/fvUB1nfxxS
The right-hander injured himself 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.
Gaikwad has been among CSK’s most prolific scorers in the last few seasons and therefore this comes as a huge setback for the yellow army.
Chennai Super Kings meanwhile lost their last match against Punjab Kings at Mullanpur, by 18 runs, while Dhoni’s cameo (27 off 12) went in vain.
CSK have enjoyed plenty of success under Dhoni’s captaincy in the past. They 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.”
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