{"id":156347,"date":"2026-04-18T12:01:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=156347"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:01:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:31:46","slug":"srh-vs-csk-ipl-2026-will-he-wont-he-the-great-ms-dhoni-waiting-game-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=156347","title":{"rendered":"SRH vs CSK, IPL 2026: Will he? Won\u2019t he? The great MS Dhoni waiting game continues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content-body-70878385\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">The M.S. Dhoni frenzy, building steadily with each passing season, has reached a near-fever pitch this year. Every Chennai Super Kings fixture now seems to orbit a single, lingering question: will the former captain finally step onto the field?<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the team\u2019s official Instagram account only heightened the anticipation, teasing Dhoni\u2019s arrival in the City of Pearls. Yet, at Friday\u2019s training session, the 44-year-old kept things low-key, alternating between light jogging and a casual game of foot-volley alongside Sanju Samson, Sarfaraz Khan, and a few others.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Stephen Fleming remained predictably tight-lipped, offering little beyond the standard line that Dhoni was \u201cprogressing well\u201d in his recovery. But just when it seemed like another day of speculation would drift by unanswered, a late twist reignited belief.<\/p>\n<div class=\" article-picture center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ss-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/lfu202\/article70878398.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/SRH-CSK-previewG7QFS6VGN.3.jpg.jpg\" data-original=\"https:\/\/ss-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/lfu202\/article70878398.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/SRH-CSK-previewG7QFS6VGN.3.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Every Chennai Super Kings fixture now seems to orbit a single, lingering question: will Dhoni finally step onto the field?\" title=\"Every Chennai Super Kings fixture now seems to orbit a single, lingering question: will Dhoni finally step onto the field?\" class=\" lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pic-caption\"><figcaption class=\"figure-caption align-text-bottom\"> Every Chennai Super Kings fixture now seems to orbit a single, lingering question: will Dhoni finally step onto the field?<br \/>\n                                                            | Photo Credit:<br \/>\n                                NAGARA GOPAL\n                            <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caption-image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsss.thehindu.com\/theme\/images\/SSRX\/lightbox-info.svg\" alt=\"lightbox-info\"\/><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p class=\"caption\">\n<p>                            Every Chennai Super Kings fixture now seems to orbit a single, lingering question: will Dhoni finally step onto the field?<br \/>\n                                                            | Photo Credit:<br \/>\n                                NAGARA GOPAL\n                                                    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As the squad wrapped up and disappeared into the depths of the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Dhoni emerged once more \u2013 this time fully padded up, bat in hand. Facing a handful of side-arm throwdowns, he unleashed a flurry of towering hits, punctuated by his signature helicopter shot.<\/p>\n<p>Word spread instantly. By match day, the buzz around the stadium wasn\u2019t about if Dhoni would play, but how much he would feature.<\/p>\n<p><b>ALSO READ | <a href=\"https:\/\/sportstar.thehindu.com\/cricket\/ipl\/punjab-kings-vs-lucknow-super-giants-ipl-2026-match-preview-pbks-v-lsg-news-updates\/article70878289.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contrasting fortunes converge as Punjab Kings hosts Lucknow Super Giants<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>And then, just as quickly, the excitement evaporated. At the toss, Dhoni\u2019s name was nowhere to be found \u2013 not even among the impact substitutes.<\/p>\n<p>Back to square one. Back to the waiting game. And once again, the question lingers: when will he finally return? Or maybe more importantly, will he?<\/p>\n<p class=\"publish-time\" id=\"end-of-article\">Published on Apr 18, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/sportstar.thehindu.com\/cricket\/ipl\/ms-dhoni-chennai-super-kings-vs-sunrisers-hyderabad-injury-return-fans-expectations\/article70878385.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The M.S. Dhoni frenzy, building steadily with each passing season, has reached a near-fever pitch this year. Every Chennai Super Kings fixture now seems to orbit a single, lingering question: will the former captain finally step onto the field? Ahead of the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the team\u2019s official Instagram account only heightened the anticipation,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NGP4613.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgnRh4-EFJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=156347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/156348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=156347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=156347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=156347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}