Former Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni has reportedly returned home to Ranchi instead of travelling to Ahmedabad for the team's IPL 2026 match against the Gujarat Titans on Thursday.
Dhoni has not played any matches for CSK in IPL 2026 due to an injury and a lengthy recuperation. Now, rumours of a rift between Dhoni and the franchise he won five IPL trophies as captain for, have been spreading through the air again.
MS Dhoni missed all of CSK's games in IPL 2026
At the start of the season, MS Dhoni had to miss some matches as he was reported to be carrying a calf strain. His return from that injury took longer than expected.
After Dhoni started wicketkeeping in the nets, speculations about his on-field return were at an all-time high, but he did not step out on the field. In fact, he did not even travel to the ground in most of the matches, only appearing at Chepauk in CSK's defeat to the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday.
MS Dhoni reportedly fit again, but developed a new thumb injury
Newer reports had claimed that the calf strain that was initially supposed to keep him out for just two weeks had healed over, but Dhoni did not take the field just yet.
In fact, he was fully fit and fine for CSK's last two matches but had allegedly sat out so that he would not disturb the team combination cultivated over the last 10 matches.
But, even though he was expected to feature against SRH on Monday, he reportedly developed a new injury in his thumb. As reported by ESPNCricinfo, this new injury is among the reasons that Dhoni returned to Ranchi.
Rumours of a rift between CSK and MS Dhoni
As per earlier reports, while Dhoni's injuries were real, there was something more behind the scenes that led to his decision not to take the field.
Allegedly, Dhoni had fallen out with the Chennai Super Kings' senior management over the last two years, reported CricBlogger. Dhoni had quit the captaincy of the franchise before IPL 2024 and named Ruturaj Gaikwad his successor.
Since then, as part of their push to phase out senior players and build a new team for the future, the CSK management has allegedly not sought Dhoni's opinion in their decision-making. Dhoni was also allegedly not fully in the loop over CSK's decision to trade Ravindra Jadeja for Sanju Samson from the Rajasthan Royals.
This difference of opinion has apparently led to deteriorating relations between MS Dhoni and CSK. In fact, it has been alleged that Dhoni will not be seen anywhere near CSK after IPL 2026.
Also Read: MS Dhoni unhappy with CSK! Ravichandran Ashwin drops a shocking claim
CSK qualification scenario
The newest report, as mentioned by ESPNCricinfo, also states that Dhoni will return to the CSK camp if the team makes the playoffs.
Apart from winning their last league stage game - against GT on Thursday - CSK will have to hope for other results to go their way. In fact, there is a very specific set of results that need to happen if CSK are to make the last four.
If CSK do beat GT on Thursday, the following sequence of results is needed from them to make the last four:
LSG beat PBKS on Saturday, MI beat RR in the day game on Sunday, and DC beat KKR in the night game on Sunday. In this situation, both PBKS and KKR will be eliminated after finishing on 13 points, while there will be a three-way tie between CSK, RR and DC on 14 points.
In this situation, the net run rate will be taken into account, but CSK do not hold the edge in that category anymore. Even if CSK beat GT, even one of the other three results going the other way would eliminate them.
