For the first time in last 18 years, MS Dhoni has not played a single match in the Indian Premier League season due to injuries.
Published: May 22, 2026 12:33 PM IST
GT vs CSK IPL 2026: It is the end of the road for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2026 season after their 89-run loss to Gujarat Titans in match no. 66 of IPL 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday. CSK will end the season with 12 points and have failed to qualify for the Playoffs stages for the third year in a row after winning the IPL 2022 title – their record-equalling fifth win.
For the first time in the last 18 years of Indian Premier League, MS Dhoni has not played a single match for his franchise. Former CSK captain Dhoni suffered a calf-strain in the pre-season training camp followed by a thumb injury in the later stages of the tournament and as a result wasn’t available for even a single match for CSK in IPL 2026.
Dhoni will be celebrating his 45th birthday in July this year and question on every CSK fan’s mind if ‘Thala’ will be available to play in IPL 2027 and whether he will play for CSK next year.
“Obviously, it’s a hard, hard miss for us definitely. He’s someone who can, have a fear in the opposition, especially coming in those late overs. He can really change the game, can really change the momentum just by staying at the crease,” CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said about Dhoni.
“So, he’s someone, definitely we missed a lot this season. But, I mean, we never know about next season, but obviously really happy with the guys we had and, really happy with the experience they got this year,” Gaikwad added.
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CSK skipper Gaikwad himself was unclear about Dhoni’s availability to play for the franchise next year. “Obviously you will get to know it next year itself. Even I’ll get to know it next year itself,” he said.
Dhoni was retained as an ‘uncapped player’ for Rs 4 crore ahead of the IPL 2026 season. He has turned out in 278 matches so far and scored 5439 runs with 24 fifties at a strike-rate of 137.45.
Gaikwad, on the other hand, was retained for Rs 18 crore but have failed to lift CSK into the Playoffs for the third successive season. The CSK skipper blamed injuries to players like Jamie Overton and Ramakrishna Ghosh – both all-rounders – in the second-half of the season for three successive losses.
“Well, tough season to start, especially the hat-trick of losses. And then after that, once we found that momentum, obviously we found guys playing at the right spot, the right combination, everything started working. And then obviously, a couple of injuries again and again. It didn’t really help much, especially missing out Jamie and, another all-rounder in Ramakrishna Ghosh, kind of unsettled our playing 12. We were always playing a batter short or, playing a bowler short in whatever last three games we played,” Gaikwad said.
