By “MS Dhoni has handed over Chennai Super Kings’ captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the start of IPL 2024,” CSK said in a statement. “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.”
The change was sudden and unexpected but not entirely surprising given Dhoni’s approach to his career. On March 4, he posted a cryptic comment on his social media handle saying, “Can’t wait for the new season and the new ‘role.’ Stay tuned!” Almost two weeks later, the real context and meaning of the post were revealed.
The CSK management confirmed the change just a day ahead of the team’s opener of the new season. The Super Kings, the defending champions, clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore at Chepauk in Chennai on Friday (March 22), kicking off the new IPL season.
Insiders say CSK management was informed of the change only on Thursday morning, just about an hour before the Captains’ Conclave. “It was a decision between MS and coach Stephen Fleming. We, the management of the franchise, always leave the cricketing matters to the team management and they informed us about the captaincy change this morning. We went by their decision,” Kasi Viswanathan, the CEO of CSK.
Gaikwad to Take Over
It is apparent that Gaikwad (27), who made his debut in the 2020 season, was informed of the change some time back. Viswanathan claims that even franchise owner N Srinivasan was not aware of it until yesterday.
“I believe that Rutu must have been hinted about it in advance. That is the way MS functions. He must have consulted him before deciding to hand over the reins to him. But we informed Mr. Srinivasan only this morning,” Viswanathan claimed. Gaikwad has experience of captaincy in T20 cricket, notably guiding India to the Gold Medal in last year’s Asian Games. He has captained 16 times in all T20 cricket, winning 10 and losing 5 with 1 No Result..
