Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling coach Eric Simmons has revealed that MS Dhoni will himself decide, along with the medical team, on his availability for the game against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Thursday, April 23, in Match 33 of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Simmons stated that the final decision on whether Dhoni will play his first game of the new season completely rests on him, and if he is ready to play a full game.
“A decision on him (Dhoni) will be taken tomorrow by him and the medical staff, if he is absolutely ready to go,” Eric Simmons was quoted as saying on NDTV.
Dhoni has been nursing a calf injury since the beginning of the IPL, which has seen him miss the first six matches of the current season. The former captain, however, is agonisingly close to returning to full fitness.
The 44-year-old had his first wicketkeeping session at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday ahead of the game against MI. Based on the clips shared by CSK’s official social media accounts, Dhoni looked extremely sharp behind the stumps and even performed a stumping in a nets session.
It is worth mentioning that Dhoni has not played any professional cricket since the conclusion of last year’s IPL. He played 14 times during the 2025 IPL season, with most of his appearances coming in as captain in the absence of the injured Ruturaj Gaikwad. He scored 196 runs in the tournament and contributed 11 dismissals from behind the stumps, including five stumpings.
CSK desperately need Dhoni to make a comeback into the side in order to get their season back on track. The five-time champions have suffered four defeats from the first six games this season to currently find themselves eighth in the standings with four points and a net run-rate of negative 0.780.
MI, on the other hand, have the same number of points as their arch-rivals but are ahead of them in the table thanks to a better net run-rate.
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