Chennai: Chennai Super Kings were dealt a severe blow on Thursday as regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the IPL due to an elbow injury, a development that has brought back Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the leadership role.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development.
“We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL,” Fleming told mediapersons ahead of the match against KKR on Friday.
Dhoni had previously captained CSK from 2008 till 2023 and won five IPL titles. He handed over the captaincy to Gaikwad ahead of the 2024 season.
Gaikwad sustained the blow when he was hit by a short ball from Jofra Archer on March 30, and since then he has played two games.
“He got hit in Guwahati (vs RR). 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 said.
While Gaikwad played through pain against Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, the CSK medical team could only get his MRI done after the swelling subsided.
“So we’re disappointed and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but, he will be out of the tournament.”
The head coach also said that Gaikwad wanted to “continue” but the call to replace him had to be made.
While Gaikwad has easily been the best batter in the last five games, he has often been left frustrated by a floundering top order and below-par show by the middle order, where CSK haven’t been able to chase anything in excess of 180.
CSK doesn’t have too many options now apart from bringing back Rahul Tripathi in the top-three although he has looked terribly out of place so far.
Deepak Hooda, one of the seasoned CSK players, can come in the middle order.
CSK can also look at the untested Delhi boy Vansh Bedi to do some power hitting.
The Chennai team is entitled to a substitute player and it could be Mumbai teenager Ayush Mhatre filling in that slot.
