Former CSK captain MS Dhoni has not travelled to New Delhi with the team and will be unavailable for IPL 2026 match against DC on Tuesday.
Updated: May 5, 2026 12:32 PM IST
DC vs CSK IPL 2026: Fans of Chennai Super Kings team have been waiting for their ‘Thala’ MS Dhoni to make their first appearance in the Indian Premier League 2026 season. But the former CSK skipper is yet to play a single match this season after a calf-strain that he picked up in the pre-season camp. The wait to see Dhoni in action is set to extend with the former India captain not travelling to New Delhi for match no. 48 against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday.
CSK bowling Eric Simons refused to comment about Dhoni’s fitness or availability for the team as the five-time former champions will only have four matches remaining in the league phase this season after the clash on Tuesday night.
“Update on MS Dhoni is way above my pay grade. He’s not with us (in Delhi), but steadily improving. He’ll be ready when he’s ready, and he knows when he’s ready to play,” Simons said about Dhoni in the pre-match press conference in New Delhi on Monday.
Dhoni isn’t the only big name missing from this encounter as DC are set to bench veteran South Africa batter David Miller as well, after dropping him for the last game against Rajasthan Royals. With Miller’s South Africa teammate Lungi Ngidi now fit to resume for Axar Patel’s side after resting for six days according to ICC’s concussion protocol, the home team’s Overseas quota is overflowing.
Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka replaced injured youngster Sahil Parakh in the last game and scored a blazing half-century in Jaipur. “Lungi and all bowlers are 100 percent fit. He did not play the last two games because of the six-day criteria, but he is fully fit now,” DC bowling coach Munaf Patel said on Monday.
“It is always difficult to fit the best combination into the XI because there are only four overseas slots. Sahil was injured, so we wanted to give Pathum an opportunity and also have an additional bowling option. That is why we went with that combination. At that time, Lungi was not available, so the plan was to go with either Pathum or Miller depending on the balance we needed,” Munaf added about the combination of DC team.
CSK could also hand debut to Akash Madhwal, who was signed up as replacement for Ayush Mhatre last month. Madhwal has previously represented Mumbai Indians (MI in 2023, 2024) and Rajasthan Royals (2025). He has featured in 17 IPL matches, picking up 23 wickets.
Different city, same mission
Into the Capitals arena, ready to roar
Here’s Dewald with a game-day look ahead ️#WhistlePodu #DCvCSK pic.twitter.com/guytn2qzWr— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) May 5, 2026
Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings IPL 2026 match no 48 Predicted 12
Delhi Capitals: Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Rana, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel (c), Vipraj Nigam/Auqib Nabi, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sarfaraz Khan/Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Akash Madhwal/Gurjapneet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary
