MS Dhoni will step down as captain of Chennai Super Kings ahead of Friday’s IPL season opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru; new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has been appointed.
However, Dhoni remains available as a player until any injury concerns arise, maintaining wickets against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday as planned – Dhoni being responsible for five titles won during his five-year run as captain.
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been groomed for his new role by the Super Kings behind the scenes, even though the sudden change may surprise spectators. Dhoni made similar attempts in 2022 by handing over leadership of Maharashtra to Ravindra Jadeja on the eve of the season’s start, but this proved ineffective as Jadeja abruptly quit during play, and Dhoni resumed leadership role midseason, regaining his former position of captaincy role back.
CSK had initially signed Ben Stokes as their captaincy option in the 2023 Indian Premier League; however, due to fitness issues with Stokes, they decided to focus on Gaikwad as an opener instead. Even though Gaikwad does not form part of India’s regular setup, he remains much appreciated in their franchise environment.
Once he joined CSK’s system in 2019, he debuted in 2020 and quickly established himself by winning three consecutive Man of the Match awards in three matches. A year later, when they won their fourth championship title in 2021, he held onto their orange Cap and became part of their side as one of its key members. Since then, he has become an integral component.
Gaikwad and Dhoni spent much of the 2022-2023 domestic season together during the Vijay Hazare Trophy competition. It was during this time when initial steps toward changing guard were made, taking place out of media view in Ranchi, further proved Dhoni’s method for handing off leadership to Gaikwad, similar to his approach used when handing Virat Kohli the reins as skipper of India.
Since that time, Gaikwad has also regularly attended Stephen Fleming’s captaincy programs at the team hotel. Mike Hussey, CSK’s batting coach who has worked closely with Gaikwad, stated in an earlier interview with The Indian Express that Gaikwad possesses all the components to lead their team like Dhoni. “Like Dhoni, he takes his time when making decisions. He is highly composed when handling pressure like Dhoni and an excellent reader of the game.
As previously stated, Hussey recognized his remarkable perceptive nature and said he possessed some outstanding leadership characteristics. People are attracted to him due to his nature, character, and demeanor and enjoy being around him. According to him, he possessed some exceptional leadership characteristics.
As part of Maharashtra’s Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign in which Gaikwad led them to the final, several of his colleagues noted his leadership style was strikingly similar to MS Dhoni’s at CSK. Gaikwad was responsible for scheduling practice sessions and planning team outings, which is identical to how Dhoni runs CSK.
Azim Kazi, all-rounder for Maharashtra, states: “He has become our everything. There will be new lessons that we will learn, as he has changed both the setup and our way of getting ourselves ready for matches. Our cohesiveness as a team extends from training sessions back to the hotel.” Example: He always keeps his hotel room unlocked, so we are free to visit it anytime we need assistance.
Whenever one of his teammates encounters difficulty on the field, Kazi quickly informs his teammates of it by raising it off-field and offering advice. What’s truly impressive is his game plan and the way each of us has an individual function within it that he utilizes strategically,” said Kazi.
Gaikwad has prepared himself for this role through the Maharashtra setup and now fills Dhoni’s old shoes.
