IPL 2025: Ruturaj Gaikwad out with elbow injury, MS Dhoni to lead CSK

Due to an elbow injury, Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad will not be participating in the 2025 IPL. He will be succeeded as captain for the rest of the season by MS Dhoni. On Thursday (April 10), the eve of the team’s home match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, head coach Stephen Fleming announced the news.

The five-time winners are hovering in ninth place with just one victory from five games, so Gaikwad’s departure could not have come at a worse moment. Against the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on March 30, Gaikwad sustained an injury to his elbow after being struck by a rising delivery from Tushar Deshpande. In his team’s close six-run defeat, he kept batting and scored 63.

Despite being a questionable starter in the subsequent home match against the Delhi Capitals, Gaikwad showed up and scored five runs in his team’s 25-run defeat. He played in the following match, which CSK lost by 18 runs to prolong their suffering, against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur.

In Guwahati, he was struck. In Chennai, Stephen Fleming, the head coach of CSK, stated, “He’s been operating with a degree of pain.” An MRI showed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck, and an X-ray was inconclusive. We therefore feel sorry for him and are dissatisfied. Despite his best efforts to play, he will no longer be able to participate in the competition. For the rest of the IPL, our uncapped player MS Dhoni will serve as captain.

Gaikwad’s latest scans revealed a fracture, therefore CSK had to rely on their inspiring leader, Dhoni, who has guided them to two Champions League wins and five IPL titles (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023). He has led the squad in 235 of their 268 games overall.

“He is aware of the team’s current needs. Ruturaj Gaikwad was one of those who refused to leave.

He therefore didn’t hesitate to offer his assistance in helping us get out of this situation if he could. That was never a question, then,” Fleming said of Dhoni.

“We’ll look at replacements,” Fleming responded when asked about Gaikwad’s possible successor. We’ll start by looking within because we have some talented players who have been with us for a long time. However, there is a chance to observe how we may improve the team going ahead, most likely in the upcoming years.”

Following their match against KKR at home, CSK will travel to play the Mumbai Indians on April 20 and the Lucknow Super Giants on April 14.