The CSK skipper is ruled out of the tournament due to an injury.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have sustained a significant blow with their regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad being ruled out of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) due to an elbow fracture. In Gaikwad’s absence, MS Dhoni will return to lead the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the rest of the tournament.
The Maharashtra cricketer ends his short IPL 2025 campaign with 122 runs from five innings, including two fifties. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s absence in the batting lineup will be dearly felt, and all eyes will be on who his replacement will be. We take a look at three players who could replace the 28-year-old.
Former Delhi Capitals opener Prithvi Shaw was one of the several players who went unsold at the IPL 2025 mega auction last year. Lack of consistency might be a concern for Shaw, who scored just 198 runs from eight matches in IPL 2024.
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The Mumbai cricketer had endured a similar outing at the 2025 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 197 runs from nine innings. His fitness has also been questioned in the past. However, a fresh start is what the youngster will need and under MS Dhoni’s guidance, he will get exactly that. Not just that, he is an attacking opener who can hit from the word go.
Yash Dhull’s statistics in the IPL (16 runs from four matches) may not tell the entire story. Like Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull is an attacking batting option. Chennai Super Kings’ top-order has often struggled to convert starts this season, and the Under-19 World Cup winner could be a solution for that.
Ayush Mhatre is just 17 years old and has an entire career ahead of him. He could live a dream every aspiring cricketer would have had—playing under the great MS Dhoni. In just seven innings, Ayush amassed 458 runs for Mumbai in the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy at an average of 65.43. He scored one fifty and two centuries. For a youngster, these are impressive figures, and he could get a chance to represent one of the most successful franchises in IPL.
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