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MS Dhoni kept his fans waiting for yet another Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match, missing out for the seventh successive game in the 19th edition. Nursing a calf strain since before the start of the season, Dhoni is yet to take the field in IPL 2026.

There were faint hopes of him featuring in the high-octane Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK) clash at the Wankhede Stadium. However, fans were left disappointed as soon as the team sheet was out.

Dhoni showed signs of full recovery with both long and short training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, raising hopes of his involvement in the MI vs CSK clash, also dubbed as the ‘El Clasico’ of IPL. But the absence against MI means that he is not yet match-fit.

MI and CSK, who are the most successful sides in IPL history, haven’t lived up to their reputation this season with mediocre performances so far. Both sides have lost four out of six matches in IPL 2026 and sit in the bottom half of the table.

Meanwhile, MI skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl on home soil.

Mumbai Indians remained unchanged as Rohit Sharma continued to miss out for a third match in a row due to a hamstring issue.

Teams

Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Jasprit Bumrah, Krish Bhagat, AM Ghazanfar and Ashwani Kumar.

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh and Mukesh Choudhary.

Impact subs:

Mumbai Indians: Will Jacks, Raj Bawa, Shardul Thakur, Danish Malewar, Mayank Rawat

Chennai Super Kings: Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Matt Henry, Akeal Hosein, Urvil Patel