MS Dhoni has been ruled out of IPL 2026 for two weeks after suffering from a calf strain.
The 44-year-old Dhoni is expected to miss at least two weeks of the season due to an injury he sustained during the preseason camp, the five-time champions CSK revealed on Friday. Due to his injury, Dhoni has chosen to remain in Chennai to possibly work on his injury, instead of traveling with the team to Assam.
Dhoni’s former India and CSK teammate, R Ashwin, found the move particularly unusual, as he stated the CSK legend mostly travels with the team if he is in the squad.
“That is his personal choice. Mahi usually does not do this. If he is in the squad, he travels. Maybe he might have done rehab also. But it is his personal choice; how can we give our opinion on that decision? But CSK’s fan base will definitely come for this game,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
In the absence of MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson is likely to keep wickets on his CSK debut. He is also likely to open the innings with CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. However, Ashwin felt that Samson needs to bat at no.3 for CSK, so that they can fit in off-spin all-rounder Matthew Short in the XI.
“I will think of playing Sanju at No.3. But if you have already decided that Ruturaj and Samson will open, then you can think about playing Sarfaraz Khan. There is no need for Matthew Short to play, but you never know. I have seen him bowl in the practice games.
So, these guys can go in that direction as well because Short has played at No.5, or at No.3 at times, and also gives you four overs. RR have Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, and Ravindra Jadeja, so CSK will need an off-spinner,” Ashwin concluded.