Mahendra Singh Dhoni has stepped down as the captain of the Chennai Super Kings ahead of the Indian Premier League 2024.
MS Dhoni has handed over CSK's captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad, the franchise said in a statement on Thursday.
"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," CSK said.
The stylish opener had a memorable run last season, aggregating 590 runs in 16 games at an impressive strike rate of 147.50.
CSK will face Royal Challengers Bangalore in the tournament opener on March 22. The match will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT: MS Dhoni hands over captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad. #WhistlePodu #Yellove
March 21, 2024Last year, the Indian men's cricket team under the captaincy of Ruturaj Gaikwad clinched the gold medal on its Asian Games debut.
In 2022, Dhoni had given up the captaincy and handed it over to Ravindra Jadeja. However, after a poor start to the tournament, he took back the reins. MS Dhoni led CSK to five IPL titles.
Speculation is rife that this season will be Dhoni's final one as a player. Last year, the 42-year-old mostly came out to bat towards the fag end of CSK innings.
At the post-match ceremony after winning the final last year, Dhoni was asked if he would retire on a high, but the Ranchi dasher, in his inimitable style, deflected the query by saying that it would amount to taking an easy way out.
Last month, MSD was selected as the leader of IPL's all-time greatest team which was picked to celebrate the success of world's most-popular T20 league which was launched in 2008.
The selection panel consisted of former cricketers Wasim Akram, Matthew Hayden, Tom Moody and Dale Steyn. About 70 journalists were also part of the selection process.
(With PTI inputs)
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