Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) struggles have continued in the ongoing IPL 2026, and now the team management and MS Dhoni have come under fire. The five-time champions look unsettled this season and are struggling to find rhythm as they have now lost four of their six matches so far.
With the Chennai Super Kings languishing at the seventh spot in the IPL 2026 points table, everyone is just wondering what is going wrong inside the camp. They recently suffered a 10-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their previous game in Hyderabad.
Now, reacting to CSK’s struggles, former India cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has refused to blame the players but pointed the finger at the team management for the disastrous start of the 2026 season. He said that they make the big decisions, so they must share the hate.
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Manjrekar said on Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast, "This blame, I’m going to put at the doorstep of the owners and people who make the big decisions. Because Gaikwad, before he was captain, was phenomenal at the top of the order.”
The cricket pundit also slammed the handling of MS Dhoni and his massive influence on the team. The CSK legend has not played a single match so far in the ongoing IPL 2026 due to a calf injury, but his presence continues to dominate discussions around the team.
Sanjay Manjrekar slams ‘sycophancy fandom’ around MS Dhoni
He feels the sycophancy around MS Dhoni has gone too far, and now it is creating confusion in the team and making things difficult for captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who scored just 82 runs in six innings, to lead freely. This is eventually affecting the team’s performance in the tournament.
Manjrekar further added, “And then that thing with MS Dhoni, whether he’s going to be playing or whether he’s going to be captain, they handled that very badly. And this is where you see the sycophancy of Indian culture that has seeped into cricket as well. I mean, there isn’t just a fan following of Dhoni; there is sycophancy around it.”
He also shared one moment to show how strong Dhoni’s fan following is. The cricket pandit recalled a close run-out situation where Dhoni was short of the crease and should have been run out. When he pointed out on-air, he faced so much hate from his fans.
Manjrekar said, “Fans got angry with me for saying that because it was anti-Dhoni. So somewhere they lost sight of the whole picture.”
Gaikwad’s captaincy will suffer when MS Dhoni return to playing XI: Manjrekar
There are talks that MS Dhoni is nearing 100% fitness, and Manjrekar pointed out that fitting the legendary wicketkeeper back into the playing XI will be a joke. He reckoned that Dhoni will find it tough to get going when he returns and would only make things tough for Gaikwad.
Manjrekar signed off by saying, “So, it was a bit of a joke when he used to come down the order and just play three or four balls. The coverage would hype that up as well—'What an innings.’ And it lasted four balls."
"So that’s not feasible anymore, and it was never going to be a long-term thing. So, I can’t pretend to know how Ruturaj felt when MS was on the field but not captaining, as opposed to MS not being there and him being solely in charge.”
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