Subhayan Chakraborty
Shamik Chakrabarty
A day before the start of the 2024 IPL, defending champions Chennai Super Kings have dropped a bombshell. MS Dhoni has relinquished captaincy and Ruturaj Gaikwad has been chosen as his successor. Although CSK delayed the official announcement, the IPL already confirmed it via its X handle.
Ahead of the captains’ meeting in Chennai before the start of the IPL, the league’s official X handle posted a picture of nine captains and a vice-captain. It said: “Presenting the 9 captains with PBKS being represented by vice-captain Jitesh Sharma.” CSK were represented by Ruturaj in the picture.
The IPL attested it with another post, capturing Ruturaj with Gujarat Titans newly-appointed skipper Shubman Gill and mentioning: “Presenting @ChennaiIPL’s Captain – @Ruutu133”.
Confirmation from CSK came after that, via a statement: “MS Dhoni has handed over Chennai Super Kings’ captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the start of TATA IPL 2024.”
It added: “Ruturaj has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2019 and has played 52 matches in IPL during this period. The team looks forward to the upcoming season.”
In other news related to CSK:
🚨 According to ESPNcricinfo, SL Pacer Matheesha Pathirana will miss the initial stages of #IPL2024 for Chennai Super Kings
He sustained a hamstring injury during the second T20I vs Bangladesh #CSKvRCB#CSKvsRCB #MSDhoni #ChennaiSuperKings #Pathirana pic.twitter.com/Fw4SlBhxZQ
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) March 21, 2024
CSK had kept their cards close until the decision was finalised. The franchise CEO Kasi Viswanathan, was unusually tight-lipped for the last few days. An attempt to meet him in his office in Chennai on Thursday morning was met with a refusal.
In 2022 also, Dhoni had handed over the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja, but the experiment faltered to the extent that the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman had to take charge mid-season. On the face of it, this time Dhoni’s decision comes with a finality, dropping a serious hint that the 2024 IPL would be the great man’s last.