MS DHONI will lead Chennai Super Kings for the rest of the Indian Premier League season after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out with an injury, coach Stephen Fleming said on Thursday.
Fleming said Gaikwad, 28, has been diagnosed with an elbow fracture after an MRI scan. Dhoni will take over the captaincy for the remainder of the tournament.
"Unfortunately, Ruturaj Gaikwad is going to be ruled out of the tournament," Fleming said.
"(Gaikwad) got hit in Guwahati. He's been operating with an amount of pain."
Dhoni, 43, had captained Chennai from 2008 to 2024 before passing the role to Gaikwad. He had previously handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022 but resumed the position midway through that season after a poor run.
CSK have won five IPL titles under Dhoni’s captaincy, most recently in 2023, and two Champions League trophies.
This season, the team has had a difficult start, losing four of their first five games. They are currently ninth in the table, just above bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad.
"He (Dhoni) had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this (poor run)," Fleming said."We'll look at replacements. We've got some good players in the squad that have been with us a while, so we'll look from within first."
The IPL final, which features 74 matches in total, is scheduled for May 25.
(With inputs from AFP)
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