By soumyaranjanb447 
MS Dhoni became the oldest captain to captain an IPL team at 43 years and 278 days. Ruturaj Gaikwad was sidelined by injury and will be replaced by MS Dhoni as CSK’s leader halfway through the 2025 IPL.
MS Dhoni became the oldest captain in Indian Premier League (IPL) history to captain a team at 43 years and 278 days. After regular captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the tournament due to an elbow injury, Dhoni, who had stepped down as captain after the 2023 season, was reappointed halfway through the 2025 Indian Premier League.
Dhoni increased his record as the IPL’s oldest captain in the process. When he led CSK against the Gujarat Titans in the 2023 season, at the age of 41 years and 326 days, he held the previous record.
Oldest captains to lead in IPL
- MS Dhoni (CSK) – 43y 278d (vs KKR, 2025)
- MS Dhoni (CSK) – 41y 326d (vs GT, 2023)
- Shane Warne (RR) – 41y 249d (vs MI, 2011)
- Adam Gilchrist (KXIP) – 41y 185d (vs MI, 2013)
- Rahul Dravid (RR) – 40y 133d (vs MI, 2013)
- Sourav Ganguly (PWI) – 39y 316d (vs KKR, 2012)
Ajinkya Rahane, the captain of KKR, chose to bowl first after winning the toss. One change was made by KKR, who replaced Spencer Johnson with Moeen Ali. In place of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mukesh Choudhary, CSK selected Rahul Tripathi and Anshul Kamboj.