Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has put his weight behind MS Dhoni as CSK captain, saying he is a different beast when he leads the team in the IPL. Dhoni will return as CSK’s captain after Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of the rest of the season due to fractured elbow.

CSK has got off to a poor start, managing a solitary win out of the five matches they have played so far in IPL 2025 as their batting unit has failed to deliver the goods.

Sourav Ganguly said via India Today, “MS Dhoni can still hit sixes, we saw that in the other game. If he has to play for CSK, he must be captain of CSK. Because MS Dhoni, the captain is a different beast. Obviously, he’s 43 years old, you don’t expect to see the MS Dhoni that I saw in 2005, that’s quite natural. But I think he’s still got the power to clear and hit.”

“And I saw him play the other day in Punjab and he did hit a few sixes. I think with all his experience, all what he’s achieved, he understands the game as good as anybody and will do what is right for CSK.”

Meanwhile, Dhoni has led CSK to five titles in the IPL and has won 133 matches as captain.

On the other hand, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming said Dhoni had no hesitation in taking the captaincy baton after Gaikwad was ruled out.

“He [Dhoni] had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can. So that was never a doubt. He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati. 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. So we’re disappointed and feel for him.”

CSK will host KKR at Chennai on Friday.