One day prior to the Indian Premier League's commencement, Chennai Super Kings revealed that their skipper will be changing (IPL-2024). Five times as the team's captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has made the decision to relinquish the position.
Rituraj Gaikwad, a 27-year-old batsman, will lead the team in his place. He now leads the team as its fourth captain. Prior to this, the team was led by MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Ravindra Jadeja.
"MS Dhoni has handed over the captaincy of Chennai Super Kings to Ruturaj Gaikwad before the start of IPL 2024," the team said in a statement. Gaikwad joined the Chennai Super Kings in 2019 and has participated in 52 IPL games so far. The team is excited about what is ahead in the coming season. At MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday, Chennai and Bengaluru will play their season's first game.
Why did Gaikwad get appointed captain?
For quite some time, Gaikwad was seen as a potential leader in cricket circles. Several experts referred to him as the future captain even in his rookie season for Chennai. He's reportedly Dhoni's pick as well. Other than this, he bats pretty consistently. With the exception of the 2022 season, he has averaged over 40 runs scored for CSK each year. In cricket, he has also captained Maharashtra in the national league.
Gaikwad won the Asiad gold while leading the Indian squad.
The Indian cricket team has previously been captained by young batsman Rituraj Gaikwad. At the 2022 Asian Games held in China, he was appointed captain of the Indian men's squad. In those games, Gaikwad had won the gold medal for India.
In 2022, Dhoni resigned as captain as well.
When Ravindra Jadeja was appointed captain for the 2022 season, former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also resigned from the position due to the team's subpar play. Jadeja resigned from the captaincy in the middle of the season. Once more, Dhoni had to assume leadership. Following this, Dhoni led Chennai to victory for the fifth time as champions in the 2023 season.
Gaikwad, a domestic cricket player representing Maharashtra, has been a member of the Chennai Super Kings team since the 2020 season. He has been a member of the CSK team since the 2019 season. In 52 games over the course of four seasons, he has scored 1797 runs at a 39.07 average and a 135.52 strike rate.
