Ruturaj Gaikwad replaced MS Dhoni as the skipper of Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2024. The announcement came after Gaikwad attended the captains' meeting ahead of this year's competition in Chennai on Thursday. MS Dhoni was the captain of CSK since the inaugural season of IPL and he has won the title five times - the joint-most by any skipper alongside Mumbai Indians' Rohit Sharma. Gaikwad, who has played six ODIs and 19 T20s for India, made his CSK debut in 2020 and has gone on to represent the five time IPL champions in 52 games. The right-handed opener had a memorable run last year, aggregating 590 runs in 16 games at an impressive strike rate of 147.50.
"MS Dhoni has handed over Chennai Super Kings' captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the start of TATA IPL 2024. Ruturaj has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2019 and has played 52 matches in IPL during this period," CSK said in a statement on their website.
"The team looks forward to the upcoming season," the statement added.
Dhoni has had one of the most inspiring journeys in sports history. From working as a ticket collector at a railway station, he transformed into India's biggest trophy collector, leading the team to the ICC T20 World Cup 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013 as skipper.
Dhoni has led CSK to five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Dhoni has also led CSK to two CLT20 titles in 2010 and 2014. With this, he is not only the most successful captain in franchise cricket as well, but cricket in general.
The right-handed batter has played 250 IPL matches, mostly for CSK, other than a stint with Rising Pune Supergiant from 2016 to 2017. In these matches, he has scored 5,082 runs at an average of 38.79. He has also scored 24 half-centuries in the tournament. He also has 142 catches and 42 stumpings.
CSK will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2024 in Chennai on Friday.
CSK squad for IPL 2024: MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.
(With agency inputs)