Dhoni heads home to Ranchi as CSK take on GT without him for their last shot at IPL 2026
MS Dhoni has left the CSK camp and travelled back to Ranchi, and the team will play their final IPL 2026 league game in Ahmedabad without him. Batting coach Mike Hussey confirmed it at the pre-match press conference, ending a week of speculation that started when Dhoni was photographed at Chepauk on May 18 with his thumb wrapped in heavy tape.
The match against Gujarat Titans starts at 7:30pm at the Narendra Modi Stadium. CSK arrive at it carrying every kind of complication a team can carry in a final group game. They have to win. They need Rajasthan, Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders to all drop their last matches. They need to do enough with the bat or ball to flip a net run rate gap. And they have to do it without the player whose presence in the dressing room has been the loudest story of their season.
A thumb on top of a calf
The injury timeline matters because nothing about Dhoni's 2026 has been linear. He missed weeks early in the season with a recurring calf strain. As the calf came good, the thumb went, and the bandage that wrapped it during the home game against Sunrisers Hyderabad told its own story. He sat on the bench that night, did not bat, did not keep, and CSK lost.
"I can confirm he is not here with the team," Hussey said in Ahmedabad. "If we do happen to qualify then he will definitely join back up with the team. He has got a bit of a sore thumb, so it is recovering nicely, but he would not be ready for this match. But hopefully, if we can manage to get through to the playoffs, then hopefully he will be alright."
A do-or-die without the talisman
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been CSK captain since 2024 and the leadership question is settled, but the optics of a Chennai elimination night without Dhoni anywhere near the ground are still strange. The math is harder still. CSK go in on 12 points from 13 games with a marginal negative net run rate. Rajasthan sit a place above on 14 points and a comfortable positive NRR, all but locked into fourth after rolling LSG two nights ago. RCB, SRH and Gujarat have already locked in the other three playoff spots.
To get past Rajasthan, CSK need five things to line up. A win, first. A Punjab Kings loss to LSG. A Kolkata Knight Riders loss to DC. A Rajasthan loss in their own final game. And a winning margin large enough to flip the net run rate, which Rajasthan have spent the second half of the season building a cushion on. Anything less and the season ends in Ahmedabad regardless of the scoreboard.
The Ranchi window
Hussey's framing leaves a door cracked open. The thumb is healing. If the playoff scenarios fall right and CSK survive matchday 70, Dhoni rejoins the squad in time for the Eliminator. If they do not, Ranchi is the end of his season, and a return-home departure from a do-or-die match is an oddly quiet way to step out of one.
The team that takes the field at the Narendra Modi Stadium tonight will be a Gaikwad XI in every meaningful sense. They need to be more than that to keep their summer alive.
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