Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had their worst season in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they finished at the bottom of the points table. After ending up with wooden spoon, there were several questions raised about the players roped in by CSK and the team management’s decisions throughout the season. Months ahead of the mini-auction, Dhoni has announced that Ruturaj Gaikwad will return and boost their batting order which looks "sorted" to him at the moment.
"We are slightly worried about our batting order," Dhoni said at an event in Chennai. "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."
Gaikwad suffered an elbow injury and was ruled out of the rest of the season. In his absence, Dhoni led CSK again but there were too much chopping and changing in CSK batting order which was out of character for the five-time IPL-winning franchise. Dhoni assured the fans that CSK will fine-tune their squad in the auction.
"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 said.
Gaikwad’s long absence from competitive cricket
Gaikwad has not played a competitive match since April 8. He was picked in India A's squad for England tour but did not play. he had signed a County deal with Yorkshire but pulled out due to personal reasons. He will be back in action as India's domestic season kicks off with Duleep Trophy 2025-26 which returns to the zonal format. He will play under the leadership of Shardul Thakur.
Dhoni on CSK’s last two seasons
Dhoni admitted that CSK have addressed that there were some issues which led to forgettable two consecutive seasons. Once again, it boils down to process for Dhoni. He hopes that the team will be back at their best. in IPL 2026.
"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,” the 44-year-old 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. In sports, you know you can have a very good time and at the same time there will be periods when you won't be performing well. In CSK, more often than not, we are on the higher side.
"So, we do talk about the processes. But at the same time we do want the result to come to our side. Last year it wasn't there. But looking ahead, we will try to sort out most of the things, and we will hopefully be at our best."