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MS Dhoni Clears Air On Captaincy; Confirms Ruturaj Gaikwad To Lead CSK In IPL 2026

Rajgeeta Yadav

MS Dhoni confrims [Source: @Vidyadhar_R/X.com]MS Dhoni confrims [Source: @Vidyadhar_R/X.com]

MS Dhoni has officially confirmed that he won’t be leading the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the next IPL season. Instead, CSK regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad will take over as captain for IPL 2026. Gaikwad couldn’t play this season due to an injury, so Dhoni stepped in as captain once again.

Dhoni shared this update after CSK’s last league match of the season against the Gujarat Titans on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. CSK surprised everyone by beating the table-topping Gujarat team by a huge margin of 83 runs.

MS Dhoni Confirms Ruturaj Gaikwad To Continue As CSK Captain

Even though Dhoni led CSK for most of the season, the team didn’t perform well overall and ended up at the bottom of the points table. Despite their big win on Sunday, they could only manage 4 wins out of 14 matches. Speaking after the match, Dhoni said, 

"Yes there are a few holes that we'd like to fill but one of the most important things was when Rutu comes back next season at least we are able to give him a team where he just needs to fit in 1 in the playing XI. He doesn't have to worry about too many things." 

At 43, Dhoni was the oldest player in IPL 2025. He had to take over captaincy mid-season after Gaikwad’s injury. Under Dhoni’s leadership, CSK won 3 games out of the 9 he captained. As a batsman, Dhoni scored 196 runs in 13 matches, with his best score being 30.

In today’s game, CSK ended the season with a strong performance. Thanks to great batting by Dewald Brevis, Urvil Patel and Ayush Mhatre, they posted a solid total of 231 and crushed GT. CSK fans will now be hoping for a fresh and stronger start in the 2026 season under Ruturaj Gaikwad’s captaincy.