Just a few hours back, we witnessed one of the most shocking developments in the history of IPL. MS Dhoni, CSK’s Thala, decided to step down as the captain just a day before their opening game against RCB on 22nd March.
After leading CSK to a record 5 title wins, Dhoni relinquishing the captaincy role is also a hint that his retirement from the cash-rich tournament is just around the corner.
Not the First Time!
However, this isn’t the first time Dhoni stepped down as the CSK captain. He had also passed on the reins of CSK to Ravindra Jadeja for a brief period in 2022. But he was back as the captain again in 2023 and also led CSK to another trophy.
This time around, though, things are different. To be blunt, we can be sure that we will never see the cricketing legend captain any IPL team again!
The New Captain
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been appointed as the new captain of Chennai Super Kings. If you ask me, this is quite a shocking decision.
For someone who joined the side only a few years back – and considering the presence of much more experienced players in the side – this decision isn’t something the cricketing world expected.
Choosing Gaikwad over the much more experienced Jadeja itself is pretty daring from CSK. But even if Jadeja wasn’t willing to captain the side again considering that he had a very rough time as a captain in 2022, there was still a time-tested option in Ajinkya Rahane.
And if CSK was open to a foreign captain, they could have looked at Devon Conway or Moeen Ali, both of whom bring plenty of T20 cricket experience to the table.
Big Shoes to Fill
The new CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won’t have it easy. He has the massive shoes of Dhoni to fill!
With 5 title wins and 128 wins in 212 matches, Gaikwad would have a mountain of expectations to face as he steps on to the field today as the CSK captain for the first time.
End of a Cricketing Era!
Dhoni was the last of cricketing legends to still play the IPL as a captain. But with yesterday’s announcement, that changes forever.
With Kohli having stepped down as the RCB captain many years back as he couldn’t win a single IPL title – and Rohit Sharma being allegedly removed as the MI captain after the inclusion of new captain Hardik Pandya in the camp – there’s now not a single cricketing legend who will captain their side in this IPL.
As a matter of fact, all the cricketing legends still playing the tournament will play under much younger players that are juniors to them. As they say, times change! But in this case, an entire era has ended, marking the beginning of a new phase in league cricket.