MS Dhoni To Retire After IPL 2024? Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Appointment Raises Speculations
Chennai: Just a day before the IPL 2024 kicks off, Chennai Super Kings dropped a bombshell when they announced Ruturaj Gaikwad as the captain of the five-time champions, succeeding MS Dhoni. With Dhoni stepping down from captaincy, it also indicates he might bid adieu to the game at the end of the season. Speculations began when Dhoni didn’t feature in the captain’s photoshoot. Soon after, IPL announced Gaikwad as the captain of the side.
“MS Dhoni has handed over Chennai Super Kings’ captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the start of 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.
Although it is still unclear which will be Dhoni’s farewell match, the former Indian captain had earlier stated that he will play his last in front his home fans. Gaikwad’s appointment was always on the cards. The Maharashtra batter had led India to Asian Games gold last year and was the only captaincy candidate to succeed Dhoni at CSK.
Earlier in 2022, a similar thing happened when Ravindra Jadeja was appointed the captain of CSK. But that didn’t work out as under Jadeja, CSK lost all the first seven games before Dhoni took over midway.
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 stylish opener had a memorable run last year, aggregating 590 runs in 16 games at an impressive strike rate of 147.50.
With Dhoni expected to hang up his boots at the end of the season, the franchise felt the need for a smooth transition in Dhoni’s presence as a player. While his cricketing brain is still immune to advancing years, the passing summers have caught up with his reflexes as a batsman.
Meanwhile, a lot will be at stake when CSK meet RCB in IPL 2024 opener at the M Chidambaram stadium on Friday. The CSK have placed enormous faith in new recruit Rachin Ravindra in the absence of Devon Conway, who will miss the initial part of IPL due to a thumb injury.
The CSK have more Kiwi flavour in Daryl Mitchell, a hard-hitting middle-order batter and a handy seamer. In batting, they can also look to bank on the experience of Ajinkya Rahane and youthful exuberance of opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is entering the IPL after top-scoring for Maharashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
With PTI Inputs