MS Dhoni made his return as captain when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 11 in Chennai in the ongoing IPL 2025. The MA Chidambaram Stadium erupted in delight as MS Dhoni walked out for the toss along with Ajinkya Rahane.
Dhoni, cool and composed, spun the coin beside the visiting side's captain, Ajinkya Rahane. Ravi Shastri, in charge of presenting the toss, added to the drama in Chepauk.
Ravi Shastri, as usual, exuded excitement as he presented the two captains and toss representatives for the high-profile match. In his unique flair, Shastri referred to MS Dhoni as the 'Thala' of Chennai and went on to jest that the 43-year-old was 'uncapped at this moment'.
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Dhoni returned as CSK's captain for the first time in 683 days. Dhoni took over for Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was ruled out after suffering a hairline fracture in his elbow.
Before the IPL mega-auction, CSK kept Dhoni as an uncapped player for Rs 4 crore. Notably, the BCCI reinstated the 'uncapped player' provision, which permits players who have not played for India in the previous five years to be retained for a lower fee of Rs 4 crore for IPL 2025.
CSK made two changes to their XI, replacing Ruturaj with Rahul Tripathi and debuting Haryana's Anshul Kamboj in place of Mukesh Choudhary, a left-arm bowler.
Amid the tremendous cheering and electric environment, Dhoni provided an important update on Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Confirming the loss, Dhoni stated that Gaikwad has been ruled out of the tournament owing to injury, and he will now take over as captain for the balance of the IPL 2025.
"We were looking to bat first as well. Quite a few occasions where we tried to chase it down and what we realised is that the wicket slows down a bit, so if you don't get a good start then the middle order comes under pressure. He has fractured something on his elbow, so he is ruled out of the tournament. It is important, we have lost too many matches, and now it is important to do the basics right - have dot balls, take our catches," Dhoni said during the toss.
"A couple of games we lost by big margins, but otherwise it was about the small things - about one over going for 20 runs. Our batters are more authentic as batters, they won't slog everything. They just need to back their instincts. It is important to start well, get boundaries early on and try to get a couple of early wickets as well. A couple of changes for us - Tripathi comes in for Ruturaj, and Anshul Kambhoj in for Mukesh," he said.
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Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(WK), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(C), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(C/WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed
