CSK Captain: Dhoni, Gaikwad or Samson – who will be the captain? Chennai made a big announcement after retention

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Ruturaj Gaikwad or MS Dhoni – who will take command in IPL 2026?Image Credit source: PTI

Before the IPL 2026 season, all 10 franchises have announced their retained and released players. Like every time, this time too some big names were released, while superstar players like Ravindra Jadeja and Sanju Samson were seen being traded. The retention was announced but after this a big announcement was made by 5-time champion Chennai Super Kings. The franchise has announced its captain for the next season and it is neither MS Dhoni nor the new star Sanju Samson who has joined the team. The reins of CSK have once again been handed over to Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Dhoni became the captain

Chennai had appointed Ruturaj Gaikwad as its new captain in 2024. Dhoni left the captaincy after winning the IPL 2023 season and then the command was handed over to Gaikwad. However, in IPL 2025, Gaikwad got injured in the middle of the season, after which Dhoni had to take over the captaincy again and he was seen leading the entire season. In such a situation, everyone’s eyes were on whether Dhoni would remain the captain in the next season or not.

Command will be given to Gaikwad, Samson will wait

Then, as soon as an agreement was reached between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai regarding the trade of Sanju Samson and Ravindra Jadeja, it made the question of captaincy more interesting. Samson was the captain of Rajasthan for the last several seasons. In such a situation, the question remained whether he would captain this team or not. But CSK management stuck to its decision and decided to hand over the command of the team to Ruturaj Gaikwad for the coming season. This means that Samson may have to wait for the time being to become the captain of CSK.

Who is retained, who is released?

After completion of the retention process, only 15 players are left in the current squad of CSK. The franchise now has to fill 10 slots in the mini auction. See the complete list of Chennai’s retained and released players here-

Retained: MS Dhoni, Rituraj Gaikwad, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brewis, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Khalil Ahmed, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Gurjapaneet Singh, Noor Ahmed, Shreyas Gopal and Sanju Samson (Trade)

Release: Matisha Patirana, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Sheikh Rashid, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddharth, Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja (both traded), Ravichandran Ashwin (retired)

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