Big news for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans! In the 17th Season of IPL aka IPL 2024, we will see a new captain for the CSK team. Yeah, someone skilled enough finally took that role from our beloved MS Dhoni.
Known for his sharp cricketing brain and skills, Dhoni has led CSK to win the IPL five times (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023) and two Champions League Twenty20 titles (2010, 2014). Under his leadership, CSK became not only the brand and most successful team but he also brought many praises to India in the form of wins at the ICC T20 World Cup (2007), the ICC Cricket World Cup (2011), and the ICC Champions Trophy (2013).
Ruturaj Gaikwad, though not a constant face in the Indian Cricket team, definitely impressed one and all with his innings for the franchise CSK, where he’s been from 2019 and started playing from the year 2020. In the 2023 season, he scored 590 runs across 16 matches, having a strike rate of 147.50. That was part of a journey with CSK that has had plenty of highlights from being the Man of the Match thrice in his maiden year to grabbing the Orange Cap this year for being the top run-getter of the tournament.
The plan to make Gaikwad captain is believed to have started taking shape last year. Dhoni first gave this role briefly to Ravindra Jadeja before taking it back and even considered Ben Stokes for the role this year. But they eventually decided that Gaikwad was their man for the job. Especially during their time in Vijay Hazare Trophy, Dhoni had been schooling Gaikwad as a leader, silently ushering him into his new role.
Ruturaj Gaikwad’s type of leadership is often compared with Dhoni, he is calm, observative, and gifted with the ability to motivate people from nature. As the season of IPL 2024 gets closer, eyes will be set on how this changed scenario unfolds.
