A former CSK batter and teammate of MS Dhoni questioned whether Dhoni decided to pick Ruturaj Gaikwad as his successor at CSK, and also claimed that he would have picked Ravindra Jadeja for the role.
The Chennai Super Kings are currently in seventh spot in the IPL 2026 points table with six wins in the season. They are left with just one game and are still slightly in contention for a final spot in the playoffs.
“Is it just to create interest?”: Badrinath responds to silence over MS Dhoni’s availability throughout IPL 2026
MS Dhoni has been absent throughout this season of the competition. Dhoni was present for CSK at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium; however, he did not feature in the game, and the reason behind his absence has been unknown to their fans.
He was at first ruled out due to a calf injury at the start of the season and was later ruled out due to a thumb injury that he suffered midway through the season. However, despite his availability, he has not been part of the Men in Yellow’s playing XI.
“There have consistently been questions over whether he’ll play or not before every game. The whole Dhoni situation hasn’t been handled well. Nobody knows the reason. Is it just to create interest in the match, or is it a business decision? Is this also part of the process?”
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“This decision cannot come on Dhoni” – Ex-CSK star blasts CSK management for handing captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad was appointed as the skipper of the team after MS Dhoni quit captaincy. He opined that the CSK management cannot blame it on the veteran star MS Dhoni, as he could have made a suggestion, but the final call would have been taken by the management.
“Nobody knows whether it’s true that MS Dhoni wanted Ruturaj Gaikwad to become the captain. This decision cannot come from Dhoni in any way. It had to be the management’s decision. Dhoni could have only given a suggestion.
“So the management must only take responsibility for this. Knowing Dhoni, if at all he had any say in this, he would have suggested Ravindra Jadeja only as the next captain,” Badrinath said.
“CSK just got lucky with them” – CSK star is particularly unhappy with the management’s poor team selection in the auctions
Subramaniam Badrinath looked utterly frustrated with the poor decisions and the poor auction they had over the past few seasons, including the mega-auction and the mini-auction. Badrinath was extremely disgusted after he pointed out that their player signings have been disappointing.
“Even players like Brevis, Mhatre, and Urvil Patel were replacement players. CSK just got lucky with them. It’s not like they did some planning or process to land them.
“Even a good acquisition like Sanju Samson came through trade, where they had to give up Jadeja and Sam Curran. So there is no decision that they’ve made, which has worked in isolation,” he concluded.
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