Former India batter S Badrinath has taken aim at Chennai Super Kings over the lingering uncertainty surrounding MS Dhoni’s availability for IPL 2026. Dhoni has not featured in a single match this season after dealing with a calf issue, and he has also previously been sidelined with a thumb injury. Despite the ongoing talk about his fitness, the veteran has largely stayed away from action and, in most of CSK’s games, did not even take the field.
Dhoni did attend CSK’s most recent home fixture against Sunrisers Hyderabad, but his involvement was limited to meeting and interacting with the players, along with making only a brief walk around the stadium. Badrinath said the repeated doubts over whether Dhoni would play have not been handled well and questioned why the club has allowed the situation to remain unclear for so long.
“There has consistently been questions over whether he’ll play or not before every game. The whole Dhoni situation hasn’t been handled well. Nobody knows the reason. Is it just to create interest for the match or is it a business decision? Is this also part of the process?” Badrinath said.
Badrinath went further, raising doubt over the claim that Dhoni was the driving force behind naming Ruturaj Gaikwad as the successor. He suggested that Ravindra Jadeja should have been the preferred choice if Dhoni had any meaningful say in the transition plan.
“Nobody knows whether it’s true that MS Dhoni wanted Ruturaj Gaikwad to become the captain. This decision cannot come on Dhoni in any way. It had to be the management’s decision. Dhoni could have only given a suggestion. So the management must only take responsibility for this. Knowing Dhoni, if at all he had any say in this, he would have suggested Ravindra Jadeja only as the next captain,” Badrinath added.
For CSK, 2026 has been a tough campaign, with the franchise’s chances of reaching the playoffs described as narrow. Badrinath was particularly critical of the team’s approach under Gaikwad’s leadership, arguing that the signings and squad-building choices have fallen short of expectations.
He pointed to several players as examples, saying that names such as Brevis, Mhatre, and Urvil Patel were essentially brought in as replacements rather than through a well-thought-out plan. Badrinath also argued that even a strong acquisition like Sanju Samson arrived via trade, with CSK needing to part ways with Jadeja and Sam Curran.
“Even players like Brevis, Mhatre, and Urvil Patel were replacement players. CSK just got lucky with them. It’s not like they did some planning or process to land them. Even a good acquisition like Sanju Samson came through trade, where they had to give up Jadeja and Sam Curran. So there is no decision that they’ve made, which has worked in isolation,” he concluded.
