Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has once again shocked everyone by quitting the captaincy of Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Ahead of the start of the 17th season of IPL, Chennai Super Kings have announced the new captain. MS Dhoni, the 5-time champion of the team and popularly known as Captain Cool, has decided to make young batsman Rituraj Gaikwad the new captain of CSK. The franchise has given this information on its official website. Chennai Super Kings won the IPL for the fifth time by Dhoni last season.
Earlier in the 2022 season as well, former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni left the captaincy and at that time the responsibility of captaincy was handed over to Ravindra Jadeja. But his results did not prove correct for the team. After which Dhoni had to take over the captaincy once again in the middle of the season. CSK became champion for the 5th time in 2023 season under Dhoni’s captaincy.
Gaikwad’s appointment as CSK captain was also announced by IPL on its social media on Thursday, when Gaikwad took part in the captain’s photoshoot and met the captains of other teams. This will be the first time Pune’s Gaikwad will be captaining the IPL.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT: MS Dhoni hands over captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad. #WhistlePodu #Yellove
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— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 21, 2024
Right-handed opener Rituraj Gaikwad will be the new captain of CSK team, from whom CSK fans and team will have high expectations. The opening match of IPL 2024 is scheduled to be played between RCB and CSK at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in which 27-year-old Rituraj Gaikwad will take the field as the captain.
Dhoni’s stats as captain in IPL –
Dhoni made CSK win the trophy five times. Along with this, Dhoni is also credited with leading CSK to the finals 10 times. He is the only captain to play 10 IPL finals in the tournament. CSK became champions under Dhoni’s captaincy in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023. He led the team to the finals in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2019.
So far Dhoni has scored 4,957 runs while playing for CSK in IPL. Suresh Raina has scored 5000 runs for CSK, which Dhoni can achieve by scoring 43 runs and become the second player to score 5000 runs for CSK.
