MS Dhoni relinquished CSK Captaincy & Ruturaj Gaikwad has been appointed as Chennai Super Kings New Captain. The franchise made an Official announcement on Thursday.
“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.”
Interestingly fans got the hint of the franchisee’s movement during the pre-IPL Captains Conclave held in Chennai on Thursday where Gaikwad represented CSK. But the franchise gave the Official Confirmation about the same on Thursday. CSK announced the development ahead of their opening game against RCB at home at the Chepauk. Ruturaj’s captaincy will bring an end to MS Dhoni’s stint as CSK Captain.
He has been the franchise’s captain since 2008 when the IPL began. However, his captaincy stint temporarily stopped in 2022 when Jadeja was announced as CSK’s new Captain. However, captaincy didn’t go well with Jadeja & CSK resulting in Jadeja stepping down from the role just after eight matches & Dhoni stepping back as Chennai’s Captain. He led the franchise in IPL 2023 & guided them to a trophy win for the sixth time & became the second most successful team of IPL along with Mumbai Indians.
Fans speculated that IPL 2023 could be Dhoni’s last season but he promised to gift his fans by returning to play at least one more season if the body allowed it. Troubled by a knee issue right through the 2023 season, Dhoni underwent surgery days after the final. At 42, he joined CSK’s pre-season camp in Chennai earlier this month.
MS Dhoni vs Ruturaj Gaikwad
Overall Dhoni has led CSK in 235 matches out of 249 matches marching them to six IPL title wins followed by two Champions League title wins. In all, Dhoni has led CSK in 226 IPL matches which puts him far ahead of Rohit Sharma (158) on the captaincy leaderboard. The size of the shoes Gaikwad steps into can be gauged by Dhoni’s win-loss ratio of 1.461 in the IPL, a figure bettered only by Hardik Pandya (2.444) and Steven Smith (1.470) among captains who have led teams in 20 or more matches.
Coming to Ruturaj Gaikwad he was seen as Dhoni’s successor since IPL 2021 when he ended the season as the highest run-scorer with 635 runs. Maharashtra’s batsman has turned into one of CSK’s most consistent performers. He is also one of the regular participants in CSK’s limited-overs squad playing 6 ODIs & 19 T20Is so far.
With 1797 runs from 52 matches at an average of 39.06 & a strike rate of 135.52, Gaikwad is CSK’s seventh-highest run-scorer. The first issue which he will handle is finding a fitting opening partner with Conway ruled out of the league until May due to a thumb injury. Gaikwad has himself only just 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.
Whether Ruturaj Gaikwad could live upto the team’s expectations as CSK Captain or the team will have to find another alternative. The question will be answered on the grounds of when IPL 2024 will commence.
