The Indian opener and the captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Ruturaj Gaikwad, has replied to MS Dhoni’s comment on the franchise’s batting future ahead of the 2026 edition. Dhoni, during the previous season, felt that the Super Kings didn’t have much skill and fire in the batting department.

Chennai Super Kings finished at the bottom of the points table with just four wins in 14 encounters at a net run rate of -0.647. They started with just one win in the first six games before earning just two victories in the last seven games of the group stage of the competition.

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“From him, the support was always there - There was nothing to be shy about & obviously, you know, me missing that tournament and then later on having some replacements (Ayush, Urvil, Brevis) - It really strengthened the squad & then obviously, me joining back again would really strengthen it again. So, I feel that is what he said.” Ruturaj Gaikwad answered on Dhoni’s comment before IPL 2026.

Ruturaj Gaikwad confident of CSK’s developed batting during IPL 2026

The leading run-getter of the IPL for the CSK side was Shivam Dube, who sat at the 23rd rank. The left-handed batter clubbed 357 runs in 14 innings at an average of 32.45 and a strike rate of 132.22 with the help of one half-century at the best score of 50. Only he and Ravindra Jadeja crossed the 300-run mark for Chennai in IPL 2025.

The Maharashtra captain believes that his return to the opening position for the franchise will make it even stronger. On the other hand, he also spoke about his good preparation after not being part of the Indian team during the Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“I had a good time to prepare, especially after not being part of the India A series, and then after that coming back, I decided to work on my red ball game, give it some amount of time, and obviously still working on it, still a long way to go.” The opening and veteran batter of the five-time champions addressed during a recent interaction.