MORNING WRAP: Dhoni to miss GT VS CSK clash, Aston Villa win Europa League | Sports Today

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]talk about everything sport that happened over the course of the last 10 to 12 hours early in the morning as well as late in the night. Something that you may have missed out on while you were getting a good night's sleep or were on your way to work and doesn't matter from where you're joining this right now.

[00:00:17]We're here to sum things up for you in terms of the sporting action that has taken place in the recent few hours.

[00:00:25]Without wasting any time, let's quickly get into it. I've got some football news to talk about as well, but as always, we're going to be starting with a bit of cricket. First things first, we're looking at GT hosting the Chennai Super Kings in what is the last group stage clash for both the franchises. The one update again, just a repetition of what we already told you yesterday, there won't be Mahendra Singh Dhoni playing for the Chennai Super Kings today. He hasn't in fact traveled with the team to Gujarat. He has gone instead to Ranchi.

[00:00:59]A thumb injury has been confirmed by Mike Hussey and so with 2027 being the only season now that we can hope perhaps for MS to be there unless of course Chennai Super Kings make a remarkable or complete this remarkable turn of form and are to seal a place in the playoffs, then we perhaps will get to see MS join his team for the playoffs. Otherwise, we're done as far as the 2026 season is concerned and there won't be any Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

[00:01:30]So, that's number one. Number two, Hardik Pandya after losing yet another match in the 19th 19th edition of the IPL, it's been a season to forget. A second season in 3 years, I would say for for him to forget and now he's said that it's perhaps because of the dropped chances that Mumbai find themselves where they are in the points table and that is something that they should have gotten right. Yesterday as well, a poor display of fielding, a couple of catches dropped, especially that horror show that we saw between Deepak Chahar and Robin Minz. Both of them looking at each other, both of them in fact just confused. None of them were really uh you know, grabbing the opportunity.

[00:02:16]Deepak was very very close to the ball, in fact gestured as if he'll in fact you know, got into position where you thought that he'll be going for the catch, but ultimately he doesn't. And yes, you know, another disappointing show in the field by the Mumbai Indians. And the captain feels that's one of the reasons why they have gone ahead and been one of the poorest sides in this edition of the IPL. Since I mentioned MS Dhoni, uh there is one more thing I want to talk about and that's uh with regards to one of the young teammates that he has in Dewald Brevis. A young superstar as well, somebody that the team has a lot of faith in. South African cricket also has a lot of faith in Dewald Brevis. And he says being around MS Dhoni, especially because the two of them were recovering from their respective injuries, they got a lot of time to spend with each other on the sidelines.

[00:03:08]He says that Dhoni has taught him something uh spectacular. I have in fact uh this is Manu John. Manu, I have already spoken about MS Dhoni, so you can just go a little backwards and see uh just rewind a bit and see what is it that I had to say about MS Dhoni. But yeah, coming back to to Dewald Brevis, he says that the one thing Dhoni, from all his wealth of experience he shared is that you can be confident without being overconfident. That's one of the qualities he liked about MS Dhoni, as to how humble he remains despite all the success that he has garnered. And that's a that's a good thing that he also has been able to pick from him.

[00:03:53]Uh speaking of what uh uh Uh uh you you you know players have had to say about each other, there is Mohammad Kaif as well who feels that Rishabh Pant has been hard done by. Why he says that? We did the team news breaking for you yesterday. It must have traveled to you by now. You would have read it in the papers, too, that Rishabh Pant has been removed from vice captaincy. He's not going to be there as the vice captain.

[00:04:18]That is something we know now. And it is KL Rahul who's been made in charge. Uh I remember saying that as well when we were doing that breaking for you guys.

[00:04:27]Then nothing wrong that Rishabh Pant did. And and and yeah, you you can't be mixing what's happened with him in this IPL and what his returns have been in test cricket.

[00:04:38]He remains I don't think there's an argument over there. I think he is your best wicket-keeper batter in Indian cricket history when it comes to test cricket. You've gone ahead and dealt with him in a way that he probably doesn't deserve in this format. No problems again with the way you've dealt with him in the white-ball scheme of things, but nothing wrong that he did. And that also is something that Mohammad Kaif feels that he did he shouldn't have been removed from vice captaincy. And the last thing before I end this stream, uh Aston Villa, Unai Emery has delivered. He had said when he joined the club a couple of seasons back in '22, I think it was he said he's going to end the trophy drought. He's here to win trophies. Back then, they were just a little above the relegation zone.

[00:05:29]Steven Gerrard was the last manager when he took over his reins, and he made a promise to the board and to the fans he's going to be ending the trophy drought. Guess what? 30 years, and Aston have now win I have now gone ahead and won their first major title, and they've won the Europa League in some fashion uh beating Freiburg convincingly 3-0.

[00:05:53]Tielemans with a very good strike over there and that caps off yet another good season for Aston Villa. Remember, twice now in three seasons they made it to the Champions League. This is a very good sign that for for for the board, for the investors, for the fans, all the stakeholders, you'll again be getting a good amount of money of course money from the Premier League as well, money from the Champions League.

[00:06:18]You'll be able to bolster your squad, more money from broadcast rights, etc. etc. And you'll be able to count yourself as one of the bigger teams and and a teams and a team that needs to be talked about more often Aston. Finally, you know, going back in time and uh and and achieving the kind of success one sort of relates Aston Villa to achieve.

[00:06:43]Very quickly now I'm going to take Sachin's comments. Sachin Kashyap says that Arsenal will win the title now.

[00:06:50]Saka, Gabby, Raya need Gabriel I think he means need rest to play in the final versus PSG. They can totally go ahead and do that. I agree. I absolutely agree. This is a philosophy that you can This is a This is an approach you can go with. The title is anyway sealed. You've got an away game to Crystal Palace.

[00:07:12]All you've now got to be looking at is the final against PSG on Saturday.

[00:07:18]A title victory is good. You must celebrate that. They've already been celebrating, but you never won the Champions League and it's a one-off while people will say and the larger sentiment is that PSG have the better team. They've got the edge over Arsenal, but the mood in the Arsenal camp would have completely changed and I won't fault Mikel Arteta to go ahead rest some of his best players. The league is sealed, doesn't even matter if you lose the last match. Yes, you want to win because you have that eye of being the Premier League champions, but yeah, our focus has to now be on the on the on the UCL final now. Sachin Kashyap again saying, "When I winning Europa now, we have chance to give our best players rest for the finals against PSG." Yes, that's exactly what I just read out as well. Freaking awesome says that he doesn't understand why we're trying new players in ODIs when we have enough players for ODIs. The same happened in T20s before the World Cup by introducing Gill in the lineup and messed up the whole team.

[00:08:24]I think you're talking about the inclusion of a Prince Yadav, Gurunoor Brar, all these guys who've been added.

[00:08:30]But remember, you're also looking at resting again. If you're drafting all these guys, freaking awesome, just look at it this way. That doesn't necessarily mean all of these guys are going to be starting. It's going to be good to know who offers what at at at at the international level, and I don't fault the selectors over there. I think the white ball selection wasn't too bad. The fact that Gurunoor was picked over over Ashok Sharma, that is something that took me by surprise because we've seen Ashok Sharma in the IPL. We know he's got the pace, he's got the height.

[00:09:06]With Gurunoor, we don't know besides of course the fact that Gill knows him from from his under-19 days, and he really believes in him.

[00:09:15]I'm not faulting Gill only over here, but uh but yeah, some evidence would would have really helped all of us to get our head around to get our heads around this particular decision. And yeah, um I'm not going to be faulting them for having a basket in which there are some new players over there. You got to see who can offer what at the highest level and freaking awesome again saying and finally retreated just before the T20 World Cup.

[00:09:47]He's talking about the Shubman Gill thing. Last comment again from freaking awesome says why is Jofra not playing the first test match?

[00:09:57]That is something I will have to look into freaking awesome. He's occupied with the IPL as of now as as you understand as we all are seeing in fact.

[00:10:06]But I need to see if there is something more than meets the eye over there. Some of the guys have already left. Rachin Ravindra is gone. Aiden Markram is gone back home citing personal reason. Rachin wants to play the test match. So so yeah, some calls now being taken by players big bases what their role in the playing 11 is. In case of Jofra Archer, we know he's got very important role to play for Rajasthan Royals especially in the last match and of the league stage that he's left with that. Who knows? RR remember are the only franchise who got beat in their own hands. And otherwise you see KKR, PBKS all of them dependent on some of the other results for them to seal a place in the playoffs. Remember three out of the four spots already taken. That's all as far as the morning wrap is concerned guys.

[00:10:56]I'll see you now from the Sports Today studio. It's a long day. Let's see what is it that we see in the GT versus CSK match. It's of importance for the five-time champions. And yeah, if you're new over here, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and tap that bell so that you get notified every time we have a new offering for you guys. Bye-bye.