Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad remembered how captaincy came into his hands unexpectedly and how MS Dhoni’s trust helped him transition into the role very smoothly. Gaikwad was named the skipper a week before the start of the IPL 2024 edition. Initially, he admitted that he was overwhelmed but said Dhoni made it easy for him regarding the role.
“Just a week before the tournament last year, MS Dhoni came up to me and said, ‘I’m not leading this year–you are.’ I was taken aback. I asked, ‘From the first game? Are you sure?’ With really just a few days to prepare, it was overwhelming,” he shared on JioHotstar.
“But he assured me: ‘This is your team. You make your decisions. I won’t interfere–except if it’s 50-50 in terms of field placements.’ Even then, it was never an obligation to listen to my inputs.That trust meant a whole lot to me,” he added.
Dhoni had an illustrious run as captain, starting in the inaugural season of the tournament in 2008. He has since gone on to win it five times and has spent all of his entire IPL career with the franchise, except for the two seasons in 2016 and 2017 when the franchise was suspended. He had even handed over the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but that experiment backfired, and he resumed captaincy in the same season.
Under his captaincy, CSK narrowly missed out on qualification for the playoffs. With seven wins and as many losses in the campaign, the side finished fifth by the net run-rate that allowed Royal Challengers Bengaluru to qualify.
Dhoni will be playing in his 18th season in the tournament in 2025 and has so far played 264 games and scored 5234 runs with 24 half-centuries to his name. The legendary wicketkeeper-batter has not been as prevalent as seen in his formative years. He has now evolved into an out-and-out finisher, coming in at the final stretch of the batting innings to maximise the runs scored in the final few balls.
It remains to be seen if Dhoni will ever make the shift back up the order with fans eager to see him bat longer but his lingering injury struggles could see him retain his role as a finisher.
