Mahendra Singh Dhoni sat out Chennai Super Kings' clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday due to back spasm, which he picked up during CSK's previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata.
In Dhoni's absence, Suresh Raina came out at the toss and will lead Chennai against Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. This is the fourth time Raina will be captaining the Super Kings.
"Dhoni wanted to take some rest, he'll be back in the next game," Raina said at the toss.
This is the first time in nine years Dhoni missed a game for the Super Kings and fourth overall. The last time CSK appeared without Dhoni at helm was on March 23, 2010 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The other two games were against Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab.
Interestingly, Chennai have won all their games without Dhoni till now. CSK defeated Delhi by 5 wickets and won against Punjab and Bangalore by a super over and 36 runs respectively.
Dhoni played 121 successive games for Chennai before missing on Wednesday.
Chennai brought in Sam Billings will keep wickets in the absence of Dhoni, while Karn Sharma came in the place of Mitchell Santner.
So far, Chennai have played eight games and won seven in IPL 2019 and are on top of the table with 14 points and one foot in the playoffs.
