New Delhi: Around expectations MS DhoniThe return was high, but it was not to be as the experimenter remained out of action. Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to field. Chennai Super Kings In their IPL 2026 clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.Dhoni is yet to participate in IPL 2026. He is recovering from a calf strain suffered just before the start of the tournament late last month, and fans’ expectations were high ahead of the marquee encounter.A day before the match, Dhoni lit up the stadium, entertaining cameramen, ground staff and crew members with his lighter side. He was seen playing with robot dog “Champak” during a practice session at the Wankhede Stadium. The five-time IPL-winning captain had a rigorous training session on Tuesday, where he took wickets and later spent time batting in the nets.On Wednesday, he had a brief opening before taking a break, returning after about an hour to face throwdown specialists and fast bowlers.However, the wait for fans to see their superstar continues.Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya said after winning the toss: “We’re going to bowl first, a lot of boxes were ticked, the intensity was there, we needed a game where everyone came and the chips came in. There was a conscious effort that the intensity is in your hands, we just wanted to have fun and things went our way. It looks green, but he played really well.”On the other hand, the CSK captain Rituraj Gaikwad Made a change to XI.“We would have bowled first too, but it was a 50-50 call. It looks a good wicket and coming here to the Wankhede Stadium, you have to bat well, whether you are batting first or bowling first. So it’s just about putting on a great show even if you’re batting first. We are doing really well. It’s just that we’re not able to cash in on a couple of moments. But I think we pulled it back very well with our bowling in the last match. We had a very good start in batting as well. But like I said, these are just moments where we have to make sure we cash in and we get those wins. But everyone is confident and ready to go,” he said.“(Wherever you go, men in yellow, is there a lot of noise?) Yes, obviously thanks to the legend (Dhoni) who is unfortunately not here. But obviously it’s because of him. Wherever you go, we have a lot of support. So hopefully we can make them happy tonight. We have some captain changes,” CSK said.Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock (W), Naman Dhir, Surya Kumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (C), Tilak Verma, Sheriff Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Jasprit Bumrah, Krish Bhagat, AM Ghazanfar, Ashwini KumarChennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Sanju Samson (W), Rituraj Gaikwad (C), Sarfraz Khan, Devald Brews, Shiv Dubey, Karthik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapaneet Singh, Mukesh Chaudhary
