Chennai Super Kings batting coach Michael Hussey has revealed why MS Dhoni does not remain present at the venues when his team plays in IPL 2026. Dhoni has attended training sessions and pre-match games at the nets but was not seen on the ground during CSK’s matches in the ongoing competition.
Hussey told Dhoni, who is recovering from a calf injuryhe is extremely team-oriented and always favors the group over individual attention. He explained that Dhoni felt his presence at the venues could be a distraction as the cameras and the crowd’s attention shifted heavily to him instead of the team’s performance.
“He’s such a team-oriented guy. He always wants the best for the team and he was worried that if he came it would be too distracting. Obviously there would be a lot of cameras on him. The crowd would be cheering for him and things like that. And he really wanted the team to just be able to go about their business, do our thing,” Hussey said ahead of Saturday’s CSK’mba clash.
“Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s not my decision. But that’s the idea that Dhoni doesn’t want to come to matches,” Hussey said.
‘DHONI WATCHING CSK CLOSELY’
Hussey added that Dhoni continues to watch the matches closely from home and remains actively involved in training, sharing his experiences and boosting the team’s confidence. He noted that Dhoni’s decision was purely aimed at ensuring that the team could fully focus without outside attention affecting their environment during the day.
“Obviously he’s watching it very closely at home. I personally like him in the dressing room. He offers so much wisdom. He offers so much confidence to the other guys. So obviously he’s training all the time and he’s always a bubbly personality around training and offers a lot of his experience to the players there. But it was just a case of not wanting to be seen as a team that decided to take away from the rest of the game,” added Hussey.
Due to his injury, Dhoni is yet to play a match in IPL 2026. Hussey had earlier said that Dhoni is batting well in the nets but his participation depends on his recovery from a calf injury as he needs to run fast while batting in the death overs. The Super Kings are currently sixth in the table with six points and a net pace of -0.121.
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Issued by:
sabyasachi chowdhury
Published on:
01 May 2026 20:46 IST
