Former England captain Michael Vaughan has made a bold claim on social media after MS Dhoni stepped down as Chennai Super Kings captain. The franchise on Thursday took to social media to make the announcement that Ruturaj Gaikwad replaces Dhoni in the role. The decision marks the end of Dhoni's illustrious reign as CSK skipper, during which he led the side to five IPL titles. Dhoni captained CSK in all the 14 editions the side played till IPL 2023.
"No MS Dhoni as captain for the @ChennaiIPL !!!! Makes them around 20% worse off .. #IPL24," wrote Vaughan, under whom England won the Ashes in 2005, on X.
In IPL 2022 too, CSK tried to move on from Dhoni and they named Ravindra Jadeja as the captain two days before the start of the season. But the franchise endured a difficult start to the campaign, winning just two of their first eight matches. As a result, Dhoni was renamed as CSK captain mid-season after Ravindra Jadeja relinquished the role to "focus on his game".
Away from the money talk and purely on cricketing prowess, CSK would be the favourites for a sixth IPL title in 2024 with a squad that has all bases covered.
Rachin Ravindra was a breakout World Cup star and now he has the chance of becoming a T20 superstar.
Deepak Chahar, the much-maligned seamer who is often accused of making CSK his first priority, would like his wrists to do the talking for him and with new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, and Ravindra Jadeja in the mix, anything can happen.
And how can one forget Dhoni, the smiling assassin. All it takes is one six in T20 cricket and Dhoni's love affair with the maximum is eternal.
(With PTI Inputs)