Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the former captain of the Chennai Super Kings, may not play in another IPL. Unexpectedly, he resigned from the captaincy just one day before the competition began. Ruturaj Gaikwad showed up as CSK's captain in his place for the captain's photo shoot before to the opening ceremony.
It has been confirmed by IPL management that Gaikwad, not Dhoni, would captain CSK this season. Dhoni will still play even though he is no longer captain. But there are now rumors that this might be Dhoni's final IPL season at 42.
Mahi has stated that he will play the final game in Chepauk.
Dhoni had declared earlier in the season that the final game of his career would be played at Chennai's Chepauk Stadium. Chennai's final game of the previous season was held in Gujarat's Narendra Modi Stadium. This served as the tournament's final. Although CSK prevailed, Dhoni made the decision to play with the team for an additional season because the game was not played in Chepauk.
The CSK team will now play the tournament's opening game at Chepauk. This encounter, which pits Dhoni against RCB, may be his final IPL game. Devon Conway's injury, nevertheless, means that Dhoni may now play a few more games.
Dhoni would have undoubtedly retired early if Conway had been able to play.
Devon Conway, a very effective opener from New Zealand, has been opening for CSK for the past two seasons. He had an injury prior to the competition, and he won't be able to play again until the first week of May.
In addition to batting, Conway also keeps wickets, and Dhoni is a wicketkeeper batsman. This implies that CSK would not have required Dhoni for wicketkeeping if Conway had stayed healthy. However, with Conway sidelined due to injury, the team's lone wicketkeeper is the uncapped Avnish Rao Araveli. who has still yet to make his IPL debut.
Araveli is undoubtedly capable of playing in some games, but it is challenging for him to get into every game because of his inexperience. Even if Dhoni decides to retire after the first game in this scenario, it will be a tough call given the state of the team.
Retirement is still an option for the final league stage match.
Given the current circumstances, it's possible that Dhoni would bid adieu to cricket when the last league stage match takes place at Chepauk Stadium. The final Chepauk match's time will be known only after the whole schedule is revealed. Dhoni, however, has the option to play through to the playoffs if CSK advances to the finals or playoffs, which will take place in Chennai.
In 2022, CSK also had a captain change.
The CSK team's fourth captain is Ruturaj Gaikwad. Prior to him, Suresh Raina captained five matches and Ravindra Jadeja eight for CSK. In those games, Raina only assumed leadership when Dhoni was unable to captain because of an injury or another circumstance. Even though Jadeja was named captain prior to the 2022 season, the squad was only able to win two of the eight games in which he assumed leadership.
Midway through the season, Jadeja made the decision to resign as captain, and Dhoni assumed control of CSK. The club has lost 4 of the last 6 games even with Dhoni leading the team in 2022. That season, with four points and ten losses out of fourteen games, the squad was ranked ninth. Before the season began, CSK once more gave the new captain, who took over for Dhoni as captain, all of the team's responsibilities. It will be critical to observe how the team functions in this kind of circumstance.
The only skipper to win 100 IPL games is Virat Kohli.
The most successful skipper in IPL history is MS Dhoni. In 226 IPL games, he commanded the team and in 133, he guided them to victory. CSK won five titles while he was captain; similarly, Rohit Sharma, a former captain of MI, is also the most successful captain in this scenario with five titles. Under his leadership, Rohit hasn't been able to lead the club to victory in more than 100 IPL games, though.
As a player, Dhoni has participated in 250 IPL games. He amassed 5082 runs at a strike percentage of 135.92 in these. Dhoni only scored 84 runs in one game, against RCB, despite hitting 24 fifty-score runs. Today marks CSK's first game of the 17th season against this team.
2020 saw Dhoni depart from international cricket.
In 2020, MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket. Mahi has announced his retirement on social media on August 15, 2020, at 7:29 p.m. The only captain to lead India to victory in the T-20 World Cup (2007), ODI World Cup (2011), and ICC Champions Trophy (2013) is him.
Tickets were sold for CSK's opening three games.
Because of the Lok Sabha election dates, the IPL administration only issued the schedule for the first 21 matches of the first phase. Chennai is scheduled to play four matches in this phase, with all tickets sold out for the first three. The fourth game versus the Sunrisers is scheduled for April 5 in Hyderabad. RCB, GT, and DC will be the opponents in the first three games. Chennai will host the games versus Gujarat and Bengaluru.
