MS Dhoni was injured before the start of IPL 2026, due to which he was not playing. But now he is fit, he had practiced hard even before the last match and it was expected that he could play the first match of the season against Gujarat Titans. But even in this match being played in Chepauk, he is not playing, but according to the report, he himself has refused to play even though he has become completely fit.

MS Dhoni had suffered a calf injury before the start of the season, due to which CSK had told that he is out for 2 weeks. Chennai Super Kings missed him, the team’s performance was poor but now Rituraj Gaikwad and team are back on the winning track. Chennai has won 3 out of the last 4 matches, in the last match they defeated Mumbai Indians by a huge margin of 103 runs.

Why is MS Dhoni not playing?

Chennai Super Kings had lost the first 3 matches, the team was in trouble. Dewald Brevis was also injured, but his return improved the team composition. Chennai has now found its way to victory, the team’s batting and bowling have started looking excellent. Dhoni does not want the winning combination to be tampered with or the balance of the team to be disturbed. For this reason he has decided not to play right now.

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According to the report, the decision of not playing is MS Dhoni’s only, because he does not want the balance of the team to be disturbed. If Dhoni had been included in the playing 11, perhaps Karthik Sharma would have had to be dropped, but considering the future of the team, along with CSK, Dhoni is also supporting Karthik.

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Where is CSK in the points table?

Chennai Super Kings was in 10th place for the initial few days, but after returning to the winning track, the Yellow Army has also taken a huge leap in the points table. Chennai’s morale is high after defeating Mumbai by 103 runs, this was Chennai’s biggest win in IPL history. Chennai is at fifth position in the points table with 6 points and +0.118 net run rate.

Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad played an important inning of 74 runs against Gujarat Titans and took his team to a respectable score (158), but this inning was very slow and due to this he got included in an unwanted record list. In T20, where 50 runs in 20 balls is now a common thing, Gaikwad completed his half-century in 49 balls. Although this is also not the slowest half-century in history for CSK, know who is at number one?

Talking about Ruturaj Gaikwad, he has come sixth in the list of batsmen who have scored the slowest half-century (in most balls) in IPL history for Chennai Super Kings. He completed 50 runs in 49 balls against Gujarat Titans in Chepauk today.

Who scored the slowest half-century for CSK?

The unwanted record of scoring the slowest half-century for CSK in IPL, i.e. scoring half-centuries in the most number of balls, is in the name of Parthik Patel. He completed fifty in 53 balls in the match against Punjab Kings in 2010. This match also took place in Chepauk.

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Top-6 batsmen who scored the slowest half-century for CSK

• In 53 balls: Parthik Patel- vs Punjab Kings (2010)
  
• In 51 balls: Matthew Hayden- vs Mumbai Indians (2009)
  
• In 50 balls: Murali Vijay- vs Punjab Kings (2013)
  
• In 49 balls: Murali Vijay- vs Rajasthan Royals (2013)
  
• In 49 balls: Dwayne Smith- vs Mumbai Indians (2014)
  
• In 49 balls: Ruturaj Gaikwad- vs Gujarat Titans (2026)

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How was the performance of CSK captain in IPL 2026?

Earlier, Rituraj Gaikwad was seen struggling to score runs, even today he scored a half-century but very slowly. However, today wickets were falling at the other end, so his innings can also be defended. Earlier, his highest score in IPL 2026 was 28 runs, he could not even touch double figures thrice. Gaikwad has scored 178 runs in 8 matches of the ongoing season.