CHENNAI: On Thursday morning, the masses in the city and elsewhere in the state geared up to pay their obeisance to ‘thala’ to watch the Ajith Kumar starrer ‘Good Bad Ugly’, in the theatres.
Even before the harsh summer sun had died on Thursday evening, the masses were trying to source tickets to watch their other ‘thala’. It didn’t matter that Chennai Super Kings are officially in a crisis having lost four games on the spin. The atmosphere inside the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday night, for the visit of the holders, Kolkata Knight Riders, will be like inside a mosh pit because of the return of MS Dhoni in a captaincy role for the first time since the IPL final in 2023.
After that manic, against the odds, post midnight win in Ahmedabad, Dhoni stepped aside as the franchise finally put their much choreographed succession plan into action. After having Ruturaj Gaikwad shadow Dhoni, the management had handed over the reins to the opener.
After a ‘jury is out’ kind of leadership in the first year, the batter had faced some flak, thanks to Chennai’s less than impressive start in 2025. But Gaikwad, after sustaining that hit to the elbow in Guwahati, has been ruled out because of a fracture.
“He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati,” coach Stephen Fleming said at the pre-match press conference. “He’s been operating with an amount of pain. We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.
“We’re disappointed and feel for him (Gaikwad). We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but unfortunately, he’d be out of the tournament from now. We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL.”
This is a familiar place for the five-time champions. Turning to Dhoni for captaincy. The last time it happened mid-tournament was when their then permanent captain, Ravindra Jadeja, was replaced in 2022. In all, this is the third time that Dhoni has been asked to lead the side (fourth if you count 2018 after the side had come back post the two-year ban).
