The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are facing Mumbai Indians (MI) in their IPL 2026 clash, which is being played on Thursday, April 23 at the Wankhede Stadium. Notably, the CSK players are donning black armbands to mourn the demise of Mukhesh Choudhary's mother. But, once again MS Dhoni was missing from the line-up because of his calf injury.
Big update on MS Dhoni's comeback in IPL 2026
During the first innings, CSK batting coach Michael Hussey had an interaction with JioHotstar where he was questioned about the former CSK's status and when would be making his maiden appearance in the league.
Replying to the question, Hussey dropped an optimistic yet unclear update as he said that the team is expecting Dhoni to comeback in their next game as he has started batting running between the nets.
"We are hopeful that MS Dhoni will return in the next game, and we want him back as soon as possible. He wasn’t 100% today, but he was batting well in the nets and running between the wickets, so hopefully he’ll be back next match," said Hussey.
Talking further on the matter, Hussey also revealed that Dhoni would play as a wicketkeeper in the playing XI instead of featuring as an Impact Player.
"When MS Dhoni comes he will be behind the stumps,not as an impact player," concluded Hussey.
MI invite CSK to bat first
Today, Mumbai Indians (MI) won the toss and invited Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to bat first in their Indian Premier League 2026 clash at the Wankhede stadium. Meanwhile, all the suspense over MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma finally ended as the duo ended up missing the crucial clash again as they failed to recover from their respective injuries.
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI):
Quinton de Kock(w), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Tilak Varma, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Jasprit Bumrah, Krish Bhagat, AM Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar
Mumbai Indians Impact subs: Will Jacks, Raj Bawa, Shardul Thakur, Danish Malewar, Mayank Markande
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI):
Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Sarfaraz Khan, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary
Chennai Super Kings Impact subs: Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Matt Henry, Akeal Hosein, Urvil Patel