Ruturaj Gaikwad took over as captain of the Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2024 IPL season. The announcement came after Gaikwad attended the captains’ meeting ahead of this year’s competition in Chennai on Thursday.
MS Dhoni has been CSK’s captain since the IPL’s inaugural season, and he has won the title five times, tied with Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma for the most by any skipper.
Gaikwad, who has played six ODIs and 19 T20s for India, made his CSK debut in 2020 and has since played 52 games for the five-time IPL champions.
Last year, the right-handed opener had a memorable run, scoring 590 runs in 16 games at an impressive strike rate of 147.50.
“MS Dhoni has handed over the Chennai Super Kings captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the start of the TATA IPL 2024.
Ruturaj has been a key member of the Chennai Super Kings since 2019, appearing in 52 IPL matches during that time, according to a statement on the team’s website.
“The team looks forward to the upcoming season,” the statement concluded.
Dhoni has had one of the most inspirational journeys in sports history. He went from working as a ticket collector at a railway station to becoming India’s most successful trophy collector, captaining the team to the ICC T20 World Cup 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, and ICC Champions Trophy in 2013.
Dhoni has led CSK to five IPL titles, including 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023. Dhoni also led CSK to two CLT20 titles, in 2010 and 2014.
With this, he is not only the most successful captain in franchise cricket but in all of cricket.
The right-handed batter has appeared in 250 IPL matches, the majority of them for CSK, with a brief stint with Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016-2017.
In these games, he has scored 5,082 runs with an average of 38.79. He has also scored 24 half-centuries during the tournament. He has also made 142 catches and 42 stumpings.
CSK will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2024 on Friday in Chennai.
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, Mahesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.
