‘It Was Overwhelming’: Ruturaj Gaikwad Recalls How MS Dhoni Handed CSK’s Captaincy Just One Week Before IPL
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Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad shares how MS Dhoni’s trust helped him transition into captaincy for the 2024 IPL season.
MS Dhoni (L) and Ruturaj Gaikwad. (Sportzpics Photo)
Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad recalled how captaincy was unexpectedly handed to him and how MS Dhoni’s trust helped him seamlessly transition into the role.
Gaikwad was elevated as the team’s captain on the eve of the 2024 IPL season. He admitted that he was initially overwhelmed by the responsibility, but Dhoni made him feel better 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, asking, ‘From the first game? Are you sure?’ With just a few days to prepare, it was overwhelming,” he shared on JioHotstar.
“But he assured me, ‘This is your team. You make your own decisions. I won’t interfere—except when field placements are a 50-50 call. Even then, it’s not compulsory to follow my advice. That trust meant a lot to me,” he added.
Dhoni held a memorable tenure as captain since his appointment in the inaugural season of the tournament in 2008. Since then, he has gone on to win it five times and spent his entire IPL career with the franchise, barring the two seasons in 2016 and 2017 when the franchise was suspended. He even gave the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but the move did not work out, and Dhoni came back as the captain in the same season.
In his first season as captain, CSK marginally missed out on qualification to the playoffs. The side racked up seven wins and as many losses in their campaign but finished fifth due to the net run-rate allowing Royal Challengers Bengaluru to go through.
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.
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