If Hardik Pandya’s trade to the Mumbai Indians (MI) before Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 made headlines, Sanju Samson’s to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) brought life into the IPL 2026. After spending 11 seasons with the Rajasthan Royals (RR), the Kerala superstar will now turn up in the yellow of CSK alongside the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni and others.
But will the addition of Samson add more pressure to Gaikwad, who will start his third season as the CSK skipper? Well, when asked about if CSK can entertain the thought of letting Samson assume the role of new skipper, former legend AB de Villiers outrightly denied it. De Villiers has asked Chennai to continue backing Gaikwad, who has been leading the side since 2024. MS Dhoni stepped down as the CSK captain on the eve of the IPL 2024 season.
“I obviously feel they have got the right captain, and I don’t think they are in that mindset of possibly getting Sanju in as captain, and I think they have warmed up to Ruturaj over the last few years. Stick with the one guy; don’t even entertain any of the media or the press coming out saying, ‘Is Sanju going to be captain?’ No one once again needs that in the CSK setup,” AB de Villiers told Star Sports.
The former RCB maestro divulged that CSK should back Gaikwad to the tilt and won’t think about the rumours and other captaincy candidates.
“If those jets come up and the questions, CSK should be direct, clear, and straight to the point that Ruturaj is our man, there are no talks about any other captain. Sanju, MS, and some of the other senior play supporting roles,” he added.
Can Gaikwad lead CSK to another IPL title?
Under Gaikwad, CSK have never managed to qualify for the playoffs. After recording their fifth title under MS Dhoni in IPL 2023, CSK made Gaikwad their permanent captain. In his first season, he led CSK to a 7th spot finish before IPL 2025 was hampered due to an injury. He missed the majority of the action and fans saw Dhoni back at the helm.
However, now, it is looking much better for CSK, who have solidified their squad by keeping their successful replacements of last year and adding firepower through Samson, Sarfaraz Khan and others. With Gaikwad at the helm, there’s calmness in the CSK dressing room and he will be definitely helped by Samson, who has experience of playing almost 180 IPL games. CSK will kickstart their campaign against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30.
CSK IPL 2026 squad
Batters: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), MS Dhoni (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Kartik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Urvil Patel (WK)
All-rounders: Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Zak Foulkes, Shivam Dube
Bowlers: Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Gurjapneet Singh, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar.
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