Dhoni to miss CSK's KKR clash, return now targeted for April 18 against Sunrisers
MS Dhoni will not be in the Chennai Super Kings line-up for Tuesday night's IPL 2026 game against Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The 44-year-old is still working his way back from a calf muscle strain, and the franchise have decided not to rush him despite signs of progress in training this week.
Dhoni has not played a minute of this IPL season. He missed CSK's opening run of five matches, and the team's only win in that stretch came on Saturday night at Chepauk, when Sanju Samson's unbeaten 115 off 56 balls carried them to a 23-run victory over Delhi Capitals. CSK sit ninth on the IPL 2026 points table, with one win and four defeats, and Tuesday is effectively a must-win against a KKR side with just one point from four games.
Target now set at April 18
According to reports in the build-up to this match, Dhoni's comeback is being planned for CSK's next home game, against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 18. That contest gives the medical staff four more days of recovery time and brings Dhoni back in front of a Chepauk crowd that has been waiting all tournament to see him walk out with pads on.
In his absence, Samson has been keeping wicket for CSK while also batting in the top order, a workload that worked out in Delhi's chase on Saturday but has been a lot to ask across an entire campaign. Ruturaj Gaikwad's form has been the other concern, and the skipper is still searching for a big knock with the bat.
A season on the line in Chennai
Whatever CSK's medical staff decide in the coming days, the wider picture is stark. Five-time champions do not usually find themselves staring at elimination in the first half of April, but another defeat on Tuesday would leave them needing a long winning run just to keep pace with the teams above them. KKR are in the same bracket, which is what makes the MA Chidambaram Stadium meeting feel less like a routine league game and more like a trapdoor for one side.
CSK will also be watching Dewald Brevis, who returned to the XI for the Delhi win after his own fitness concerns. The South African passed the tests needed to play and came through 90 minutes of cricket, so his availability for the KKR match is more reassuring than Dhoni's absence is damaging. For the captain himself, Saturday against SRH now looks like the likely comeback date.
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