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Dhoni hands over CSK Captaincy to Ruturaj: A New Era Begins

Dhoni hands over CSK Captaincy to Ruturaj: A New Era Begins


MS Dhoni has passed on the captaincy of CSK to Ruturaj Gaikwad. Dhoni had been the captain of CSK throughout their IPL journey, with a brief exception in 2022 when Ravindra Jadeja took over. Ruturaj Gaikwad has been announced as the new captain of Chennai Super Kings a day before the opening game of IPL 2024, where CSK, the defending champions, will face the visiting Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Chepauk. This marks the conclusion of MS Dhoni's lengthy tenure as captain of CSK, which commenced in the tournament's inaugural season back in 2008.

Dhoni and Ruturaj

Although he temporarily stepped down from the position in 2022 when Ravindra Jadeja assumed captaincy, Jadeja relinquished the role after eight matches, and Dhoni resumed leadership. Dhoni continued in 2023, leading CSK to their fifth title and equalling Mumbai Indians' record at the top of the title leaderboard. Despite widespread expectations of Dhoni bidding farewell to the IPL following this triumph, he committed to another season if his fitness permitted. Struggling with a knee issue throughout 2023, Dhoni underwent surgery shortly after the final. The 42-year-old joined CSK's pre-season camp in Chennai earlier this month. In total, Dhoni led CSK in 235 out of 249 games across all competitions, guiding them to two Champions League T20 titles alongside the five IPL titles. Under Dhoni's leadership, CSK displayed remarkable consistency, finishing outside the top four only in 2020 and 2022, while also reaching the final on ten occasions, including four consecutive years from 2010 to 2013.

During CSK's two-year ban from the IPL in 2016 and 2017, Dhoni also captained Rising Pune Supergiant for 14 games. Overall, he led teams in 226 IPL matches, far surpassing Rohit Sharma (158) on the captaincy leaderboard.

The magnitude of the responsibility Gaikwad undertakes can be measured by Dhoni's IPL win-loss ratio of 1.461, second only to Hardik Pandya (2.444) and Steven Smith (1.470) among captains who have led teams in 20 or more matches. Gaikwad, 27, has been earmarked to succeed Dhoni since his outstanding performance in the 2021 IPL season, where he scored 635 runs, topping the charts. The Maharashtra batsman has become one of CSK's most consistent performers and has earned a spot on the fringes of India's primary white-ball squads due to his IPL exploits. He has played 6 ODIs and 19 T20Is to date. With 1797 runs from 52 matches at an average of 39.06 and a strike rate of 135.52, Gaikwad is currently CSK's seventh-highest run-scorer. One of the initial challenges he faces as captain is determining his opening partner, with his regular ally Devon Conway sidelined until May due to a thumb injury.

Gaikwad himself has recently recovered from a finger injury and has only played one competitive game in 2024 - a Ranji Trophy match against Services, where he top-scored with 96 in Maharashtra's first innings.


(Image credit: cricketaddictor.com) 

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