Who will solve CSK's batting woes in IPL 2026? MS Dhoni drops "we are quite sorted" statement

MS Dhoni captained CSK in IPL 2025 after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out due to an injury.

Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni believes that Ruturaj Gaikwad will solve batting issues for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Gaikwad was ruled out of the IPL 2025 after first five games due to an elbow injury.

Across five games, the right-handed batsman scored 122 runs at a strike rate of 150.61 to go with two half-centuries. After he was ruled out, MS Dhoni tookover leadership duties of the team in the tournament. But the decision didn’t pay off as the CSK struggled badly.

Out of 14 games, they won just four matches and lost 10 encounters. With eight points, the Men in Yellow finished in last place in the points table.

Ruturaj Gaikwad will be coming back in IPL 2026: MS Dhoni

While speaking to ESPN Cricinfo during an event in Chennai, Dhoni said that Gaikwad’s return will strengthen CSK’s batting department in the next season. He also added that CSK will pick some crucial players during the IPL 2026 mini-auction to solve their batting issues.

“We are slightly worried about our batting order. But I think our batting order is quite sorted out now. Rutu (Gaikwad) will be coming back. He got injured. But he will be coming back. So, we are quite sorted now,” he said.

“I won’t say we [CSK] slacked off [in IPL 2025]. But there were certain holes that we needed to plug in. A small auction is coming in December. Some loopholes are there, and we will try to plug those in,” he added.

Gaikwad signed a deal with the Yorkshire Club to play in England’s county cricket last month. However, he withdrew from the tournament due to personal reasons. He will be next seen in the Duleep Trophy 2025-26, where he will be playing for the West Zone in the tournament.

Notably, CSK failed to qualify for the playoffs in the last two seasons. Dhoni acknowledged that the team has struggled to perform well for the last two years.

“Yes, the last couple of years have not been good for us. We have not been up to the mark. But what is important is for you to see the learnings. Yes, you had a bad season. But what went wrong? And that was the question for us last year also,” Dhoni said.

“We were like, ‘okay, there are some shortcomings’. But first we needed to exactly figure out what were the shortcomings and then look at solutions. I feel more often than not we have been able to figure out what exactly went wrong,” he further added.

Meanwhile, Shivam Dube (357) and Ravindra Jadeja (301) were the top run-scorers for CSK in IPL 2025. Noor Ahmed clinched 24 wickets and finished as the highest wicket-taker for the side. Khaleel Ahmed was next with 15 scalps. Dhoni scored 196 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 135.17.

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