Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of Indian Premier League 2025 due to an elbow injury. In his absence, it will be MS Dhoni, who will be leading the five-time champions in the ongoing season. This came as a big blow for CSK as Gaikwad had also been valuable for the team as a consistent and reliable batter. Gaikwad sustained the blow when he was hit by a short ball from England and Rajasthan Royals pacer Jofra Archer on March 30. After that he went on to play two games. "He got hit in Guwahati (vs RR). He's been operating with an amount of pain. We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck," said CSK head coach Stephen Fleming while sharing the news.
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While Gaikwad is already out of the tournament, a video of his playing football has gone viral on social media. NDTV could not verify whether the video has been shot recently or it is an old one.
In the surfaced clip, Gaikwad could be seen playing football during CSK training. The video saw many fans questioning the injury of the player.
"Forcefully dropped?" asked a fan. "Old video," claimed another fan.
Watch it here:
While Gaikwad played through pain against Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, the CSK medical team could only get his MRI done after the swelling subsided.
"So we're disappointed and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he's gone to in terms of trying to play, but, he will be out of the tournament," said Fleming.
The head coach also said that Gaikwad wanted to "continue" but the call to replace him had to be made.
While Gaikwad has easily been the best batter in the last five games, he has often been left frustrated by a floundering top order and below-par show by the middle order, where CSK haven't been able to chase anything in excess of 180.
CSK doesn't have too many options now apart from bringing back Rahul Tripathi in the top-three although he has looked terribly out of place so far.
Deepak Hooda, one of the seasoned CSK players, can come in the middle order.
CSK can also look at the untested Delhi boy Vansh Bedi to do some power hitting.
The Chennai team is entitled to a substitute player and it could be Mumbai teenager Ayush Mhatre filling in that slot.
(With PTI Inputs)