MS Dhoni Made CSK Captain For IPL 2025!! Ruturaj Gaikwad OUT

The five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winning captain of the Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni, will lead the side for the rest of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Ruturaj Gaikwad, the official skipper, is ruled out of the tournament with an elbow injury.

The CSK head coach, Stephen Fleming, confirms the development on Thursday (April 10), the eve of the team’s fourth home fixture against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

MS Dhoni replaces Ruturaj Gaikwad as CSK captain for IPL 2025

Gaikwad sustained the blow to his elbow while facing Tushar Deshpande in CSK’s March 30 fixture against the Rajasthan Royals. Even though he featured in the game and celebrated a half-century, there were concerns about him not getting the chance to be fit for the side’s next two games against Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings.

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But the 28-year-old played both games without any concern. However, the recent scans have now confirmed a fracture, ruling him out of the competition.

The injury is a major setback for the 2023 champions, who have lost their last four of the five encounters this season and will be without their key batter in a struggling top order. In the last three of the four seasons, the Maharashtra-born is the side’s top run-getter.

In this season, the right-handed batter has nailed 122 runs in five innings at an average of 24.40 with a strike rate of 150.61, scoring two half-centuries at the best score of 63 runs.

Stephen Fleming confirms MS Dhoni’s reappointment as CSK captain

In the press conference on the eve of their next game on April 11, the CSK head coach, Stephen Fleming, confirms that their uncapped player, MS Dhoni, whom they retained for INR 4 crore, will take over as captain for the remainder of the Indian Premier League.

“Ruturaj got hit in Guwahati. He's been operating with an amount of pain. We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.” Fleming expressed in Chennai.

“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.” The former New Zealand captain addressed.

MS Dhoni, 43, led CSK from 2008 until 2024 when he handed over the leadership to Gaikwad. He also gave the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja for the first half of the 2022 season before taking it back through the edition after the team went through a few bad results.

Under the wicket-keeper batter, they have won five titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023, and two Champions League titles as well.

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“He (MS Dhoni) had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can. 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.” Fleming concluded.

CSK hopes to turn the tables in the second half of IPL 2025

With four defeats in five encounters, CSK finds themselves in the ninth position among ten sides. They can now hope to turn the tables under MS Dhoni’s guidance.

After their home game against KKR on Friday, the Super Kings will play two away games against Lucknow Super Giants on April 14 before facing Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on April 20.