"If This Is MS Dhoni's Last Year...": Ex-India Star On Chennai Super Kings' Captaincy Future

The player retention list of the 10 franchises, ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 auction, is out. While several teams have released some of their senior players, some sides have retained their core members. Four-time champions Chennai Super Kings ended their hugely successful 11-year association with legendary all-rounder Dwayne Bravo. Besides the Windies star, CSK also decided to let go of England's death-overs specialist Chris Jordan.  As far as CSK's captaincy is concerned, CSK chief executive officer Kasi Viswanathan made it clear that Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead the side. "Everybody knows that Thalaiva (Dhoni) will lead the side and he will do his best and the team will do well," he said.

Ahead of the IPL 2022, Ravindra Jadeja was named the skipper of the side. However, CSK did not do well under him and then he was ruled out of the edition due to an injury. MS Dhoni was then made the captain of the side yet again.

Talking about Dhoni's association with the side, former India star Pragyan Ojha said that choosing the successor of Dhoni in captain's role might be a tricky job for the four-time champions.

"Till the time MS Dhoni is playing, there can't be a different captain. It became all the more clear last year. Having said that, had you asked me a year earlier, I would have thought, maybe Kane Williamson but whatever I know of CSK, if this is MS Dhoni's last year, they would want to pass on the captaincy to an individual who can do the role for the next 5-6 years and brings stability to the team. CSK is one such team who does not believe in a lot of changes and hence would look for a long-term captain. CSK is like a blue-chip team and not like a day trading one," Pragyan Ojha, former India spinner, said on JioCinema.

The IPL 2023 auction will be held in Kochi on December 23.

CSK Players released: Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Adam Milne, Hari Nishaanth, Chris Jordan, Bhagath Varma, KM Asif, Narayan Jagadeesan

Current squad: MS Dhoni (capt), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana

With PTI inputs

Topics mentioned in this article

Chennai Super Kings MS Dhoni Pragyan Ojha IPL 2023 Cricket