IPL 2024: MS Dhoni is the most successful captain in the history of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was the most expensive player bought in the IPL 2008 auction and has been with the CSK franchise ever since except for two seasons with Rising Pune Supergiants. He has also always been the captain of the franchise.
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In IPL 2022, CSK removed Dhoni from the captaincy and handed over the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja. But Jadeja’s captaincy was looking ordinary and it was affecting his game. In such a situation, Dhoni was appointed as the captain of CSK in the middle of the season. He then played in IPL 2023 with a knee injury and led CSK to a record-equalling fifth IPL title.
But as all CSK fans know, MS Dhoni is 42 years old and will not play IPL forever. He has admitted how tough it was for him to train to play in 2 months of IPL and hopefully, IPL 2024 will be his last IPL season. But now the question comes who is the captain of CSK after MS Dhoni? In this article, we will talk about the three players who could be the new captain of Chennai Super Kings
3 players who can replace MS Dhoni as CSK captain in IPL 2024
1) Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja has been a part of the CSK family since 2011. He is a member of the IPL 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023 winning Chennai team. While Suresh Raina was Dhoni’s vice-captain until IPL 2019, Jadeja took over as vice-captain following Raina’s exit from the IPL. Finally, in IPL 2022, CSK handed him the reins of the franchise to see if he can handle the pressure of team captaincy and all-rounder duties.
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However, Jadeja failed to do both as he did not do much as a captain and also failed to inspire other players. He also did not perform well with the bat and ball and as a result, CSK finished at the bottom of the points table that season. Since then, Jadeja has returned to his old form as a player and was also India’s vice-captain in a few bilateral series. In such a scenario, it remains to be seen whether Chennai will bet on Jadeja once again, but he is certainly an option for the captaincy.
2) Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane was a great pick for CSK in the IPL 2023 auction for just Rs 50 lakh and he responded by batting at number 3 and scoring runs at a fantastic strike rate of 175+ across all matches. Ajinkya Rahane has a wealth of leadership experience. He was the Indian vice-captain under Virat Kohli and led India in the famous 2020-21 Test series in Australia.
He then captained the Mumbai Ranji Trophy for a while and also captained the Rajasthan Royals for a long time in the IPL. The thing is, Rahane is just 35 years old, which means if Chennai Super Kings (CSK) make him the captain of IPL 2025, he can easily lead the team for 2-3 seasons given his batting form.
3) Ruturaj Gaikwad
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Chennai Super Kings have lined up Ruturaj Gaikwad for the captaincy. Gaikwad has shown that he has the qualities to be a captain as well, having led India to a gold medal at the 2023 Asian Games. He has also been the vice-captain of the Indian team several times and is known for keeping calm under pressure.
Gaikwad also opened the innings and is only 27 years old and CSK can hand him the captaincy of the Chennai franchise for a long time. IPL 2024 will give a lot of clues as to which player will be chosen as the captain of the CSK team in IPL 2025 to replace MS Dhoni and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s name is definitely on the list of candidates selected by the management.
Now this season (IPL 2024) there is no doubt that Dhoni will be seen leading Chennai but this season we can get an indication of who will be the captain of Chennai for the next season.
