MS Dhoni’s return from the calf injury that forced him out of the opening two weeks of IPL 2026 might be delayed as he still seems to be working his way back to match fitness.
On March 28, the opening day of the season, CSK said in a statement that he’s “likely to miss the first two weeks” and that he will undergo rehab. While Dhoni has been training with his team-mates, he has only been facing throwdowns and is yet to hit full tilt.
On Monday, the eve of CSK’s home match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Dhoni had a short hit in the nets towards the fag end of CSK’s training session under lights at Chepauk, but once again he limited himself to facing throwdowns from the support staff, including batting coach Mike Hussey.
When Hussey dug one into the middle of one of the practice pitches, the ball climbed on Dhoni and hit the splice of his bat. But when the ball landed in his slot, Dhoni whipped it away with his bottom hand to the midwicket boundary. He proceeded to launch another slot ball into the ‘J’ stand over the leg side before CSK wrapped up their three-hour training session at 9pm IST. Dhoni didn’t keep wicket.
Dhoni, 44, has missed each of CSK’s four games so far and might also miss their fifth on Tuesday. He hasn’t travelled with the squad for their away games in Guwahati and Bengaluru. Nor has he been travelling with the team to Chepauk on match days for their home games.
Despite being on the sidelines with injury, head coach Stephen Fleming said that Dhoni is still “heavily involved in the side and his influence in the side is very strong” during his first press conference of the season in Guwahati. In the absence of Dhoni, Sanju Samson, who was traded from Rajasthan Royals ahead of the season, has kept wicket while Jamie Overton, the England allrounder, has offered glimpses of his big-hitting as a finisher.
CSK also have Rajasthan wicketkeeper Kartik Sharma, for whom they shelled out INR 14.2 crore at the mini-auction in December last year, and Gujarat wicketkeeper Urvil Patel, in the reserves.
In the past few seasons, Dhoni has settled into a role where he batted 10-12 balls per innings and concentrated on hitting every one of them for six. His strike rate in 2023 was 182. His strike rate in 2024 was 221. But last year, he had to play 145 balls, which was more than 2023 (57) and 2024 (73) combined, and he struggled, maintaining a strike rate of 135.
CSK are also waiting for the arrival of Spencer Johnson, their replacement for the injured Nathan Ellis. Johnson himself is working his way back from injury and is likely to link up with the CSK side around April 21-23.
Johnson’s domestic coach at South Australia, former Australia quick Ryan Harris recently said that the left-arm quick has resumed bowling and is building up his loads.
“I mean to have someone like him with his pace and great skills is an important one, [but] we’re not sure how much of a role he’ll play this year,” CSK’s bowling coach Eric Simons said after their win against Delhi Capitals on Saturday. “But that’s fine, he’s a fantastic acquisition to us. For me, I have not worked with him specifically, but I’ve watched him and it’s very clear that he has got some tremendous attributes.”
CSK have one win from four matches so far this season and are second from bottom on the points table.
Source link
dailynewsnblog
