Rohit (hamstring) and Dhoni (calf) are each recovering from damage. Both batted within the Wankhede Stadium nets on Wednesday night, with the 2 groups coaching concurrently. Dhoni had even saved wickets on Tuesday night, and his arrival in Mumbai was the second away recreation in a row for which Dhoni had travelled with the group.
While Rohit missed MI’s final two video games, Dhoni hasn’t but featured in IPL 2026.
Dhoni was the primary of the 2 to hit the nets on Wednesday. He first did a number of gentle jogs with CSK physio Tommy Simsek earlier than taking a break to watch his group-mates bat. Then he padded up. He began with some tennis-ball knocking simply past the nets earlier than coming into the nets to face quick bowlers Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Aman Khan and Zak Foulkes. After a stint of about 20 minutes, he took a break, and completed his night with throwdowns, a few of which he smashed past the boundary rope.
CSK might be compelled to make a change within the batting line-up for Thursday regardless of Dhoni’s availability, with their prime-scorer this season, the 18-yr-previous Ayush Mhatre,
ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring damage. One choice for CSK could possibly be to usher in Gujarat keeper-batter Urvil Patel within the prime order. If Dhoni is match, they may use him as an Impact Player – as they’ve finished with Mhatre – which might imply transferring the batters behind openers Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad up a slot till Dhoni comes out to bat.
“A person like MS never really goes away,” CSK bowling coach
Eric Simons mentioned of Dhoni’s worth within the dressing room. “He’s always a presence. He’s always there. He’s always a resource for us. He’s always someone we bounce off and get ideas and thoughts about. The tactic that we’re using at the death has been something he’s given a lot of insights into, a lot of thoughts around as well. He’s always there as a resource.”
Rohit began his coaching with gentle jogs earlier than he padded up for a success. Unlike Dhoni, Rohit solely confronted throwdowns – each proper-arm and left-arm – and didn’t go for too many large hits throughout his 25-minute stint.
Both MI and CSK are within the backside half of the
points table having made forgettable begins to their campaigns. MI have simply two wins from six video games, and ended a 4-match shedding streak by beating Gujarat Titans on Monday. CSK have taken a unique route to the identical variety of factors; they began with three losses earlier than profitable two video games on the bounce, and then misplaced their most up-to-date recreation in opposition to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
