Mahendra Singh Dhoni is back as captain at Chennai Super Kings.
The CSK veteran will captain the team for the rest of the 2025 Indian Premier League season after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the campaign due to a hairline fracture of the elbow, the team announced on Thursday.
The IPL posted a clip of the press conference by CSK Head Coach Stephen Fleming confirming the news.
'#CSK Head Coach Stephen Fleming announces MS Dhoni's return to captaincy as Ruturaj Gaikwad is ruled out of #TATAIPL 2025 due to an injury,' the video was captioned.
'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.
"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.
Dhoni, 43, had been Chennai's skipper for 14 seasons since the start of the IPL in 2008, barring the period between 2016-2017 when the team was suspended. But the veteran wicketkeeper handed over the captaincy to Gaikwad last year.
Gaikwad suffered the injury during Chennai's game against Rajasthan Royals on March 30.
The five-times IPL champions have had a poor start to the season to sit ninth out of 10 teams after losing four of their first five matches.
Chennai's next game is at home to Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday.
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