IPL 2024: In a surprising turn of event, the Chennai Super Kings on Thursday announced new skipper for the team for 17th edition of Indian Premier League. Ahead of the season opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, CSK announced that the team management has decided to appoint Ruturaj Gaikwad as the new captain. Dropping Dhoni was confirmed by the official X handle of IPL.
In the post on X, Tata IPL said ‘presenting CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad’. In the post, both CSK and Gaikwad were also tagged. In another post, the official captains’ portrait also showed Gaikwad instead of Dhoni.
This is the first time that in the official photoshoot of the IPL, there’s no Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli. It should be noted that on March 5, Dhoni had posted a cryptic message on his official Facebook account. ‘Can’t wait for the new season and the new ‘role’. Stay tuned!,’ Dhoni had written on FB. While Dhoni has handed over the baton to Gaikwad, the ex-CSK skipper remains the most successful IPL captains of all time with record 133 victories.
“MS Dhoni has handed over Chennai Super Kings’ captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the start of TATA IPL 2024. Ruturaj has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2019 and has played 52 matches in IPL during this period. The team looks forward to the upcoming season,” the CSK said in an official statement.
Ruturaj Gaikwad IPL Career
Gaikwad began his IPL career in 2019. At that time, he was bought by Chennai Super Kings at the base price of Rs 20 lakh. Since then, he has stayed with CSK. For three years – from 2019 to 2021 – Gaikwad was with CSK at the base price of Rs 20 lakh. In 2022 and 2023, he saw a meteoric rise and was bought by CSK at staggering Rs 6 crore.