Mahendra Singh Dhoni shocked millions of fans with yet another bold decision. The iconic wicketkeeper-batsman has once again taken the cricketing world by surprise with an unexpected and shocking declaration that took everyone off guard, including fans, media, and current and former players.
The Ranchi star had abdicated as Test captain halfway through the 2014–15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, transferring leadership of the Indian team to Virat Kohli in the five-day format. He would also resign as captain of the Indian team across all formats in January 2017 to establish Kohli as the undisputed leader of the Men in Blue, once again making an abrupt announcement.
A little more than a year after doning the blue jersey for the last time in the 2019 ICC World Cup semi-final matchup against New Zealand, Dhoni will do it again on Independence Day 2020 when he made the announcement via an Instagram post.
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And on Thursday, Dhoni’s tenure as captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which dates back to the team’s founding in 2008, abruptly ended when the reigning champions named Ruturaj Gaikwad, a wicketkeeper-batter, as their new captain.
The rationale behind Chennai’s selection of Gaikwad to succeed Dhoni may also be the reason why the Mumbai Indians, who are also five-time champions, choose Hardik Pandya as their captain starting in the 2024 season, ending Rohit Sharma’s ten-year, trophy-filled captaincy.
The capacity to make decisions with the future in mind is one of the many traits that have made CSK and MI the most successful franchises in the competition’s history. And that is undoubtedly the case, even with the Super Kings, who were referred to as a “Dads’ Army” by many until lately.
During the 2022 season, star all-arounder Ravindra Jadeja, who has been a crucial member of CSK since joining the team in 2012, was temporarily named captain. Similar to what happened in front of 2024, Jadeja’s elevation to captaincy was unexpectedly announced two days prior to the commencement of the 15th season, shocking the cricket community both online and off.
But Jadeja’s reign was a complete failure, as Chennai began their title defence with four straight losses after losing six of their opening eight games of the season. In precisely one month, Dhoni would regain captaincy from Jadeja, but by then, it would be too late for the team and a postseason berth would be well out of reach.
Chennai equaled the Mumbai Indians, another formidable team, for eighth place that season, but the latter team received the wooden spoon because of their lower net run rate. Chennai would finish ninth overall.
Next is Ajinkya Rahane, a skilled leader who also turned his career around as a T20 batsman last year, amassing 326 runs at an incredible average of 172.49. But, giving Rahane the captaincy would be a bad idea for the team since, unlike Gaikwad, the Mumbai cricketer is in his mid-30s and is unlikely to be with the team for very long.
After paying an astounding Rs 16.25 crore ahead of the 2023 auction to acquire England Test captain and all-rounder Ben Stokes, there were rumors that CSK intended to make Stokes their captain going forward. Due to a knee injury, Stokes was limited to playing in just two games for the Super Kings that season. As a result, he decided not to play in the IPL this year in order to manage his workload and fitness.
Regarding Gaikwad, he has demonstrated his leadership qualities in addition to being a great opening option for both Chennai and India. He established a productive opening partnership with Devon Conway of New Zealand at the top of the CSK order.
Following a loss to Saurashtra in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final in 2022–23, Gaikwad guided Maharashtra to the runners-up spot. That season, the wicketkeeper–batter led from the front, finishing as the second-highest run-scorer with 660 runs at an average of 220 and scoring four hundreds in five matches.
Not only has Gaikwad led his state side in the past, but the 27-year-old Pune native was also the driving force behind India’s triumphant campaign at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, where they took home the gold medal in their debut. Despite the fact that India only participated in three matches in that tournament and lost the championship match, Gaikwad demonstrated that he could handle the strain of captaining his nation in a continental competition where a gold medal was up for grabs.
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Gaikwad had been learning the craft of captaincy from Dhoni for a while, therefore the team’s search for a successor would have been greatly aided by Vijay Hazare’s victory in the 2022–2023 season. Their decision would have been solidified only by their victory in the Asian Games.
The next season will be extremely important for Gaikwad because of the enormous void left by Dhoni’s apparent permanent departure. However, if CSK starts to lose a lot of games like they did in 2022, there’s always a chance that he could have to return.
But if he can establish himself as a leader in his first season and maintain his form as an opener, which has been fairly stable since he joined the team in 2019, Gaikwad will not only be carrying on CSK’s rich legacy but could also emerge as the newest candidate to lead India in the post-Rohit era.
