BREAKING NEWS: MS Dhoni passes the Chennai Super Kings captaincy baton to Ravindra Jadeja

Jadeja: The new captain for CSK

The big news came just two days before the first match of the franchise.

The 15th edition of the tournament will commence on March 26, with the first match being between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkatta Knight Riders, both the franchise's now with their newly appointed captains, Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer respectively.

"MS Dhoni has decided to hand over the leadership of Chennai Super Kings and picked Ravindra Jadeja to lead the team," an official statement from CSK read. "Dhoni will continue to represent Chennai Super Kings this season and beyond," they said.

Ravindra Jadeja was the first retention of Chennai Super Kings for a whopping amount of INR 16 crore.

He has been an integral part of the team since 2012. He is only the third player to captain the franchise after MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina for a few matches.

Greatest captain of all time

MS Dhoni is the most celebrated Indian captain. He led India to win the T20 World Cup in 2007, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

In the IPL, CSK has won the IPL title four times (2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021), and has the highest win percentage of matches among the teams. He led his team to the play-offs 11 times and to the finals, nine times out of the 12 editions played.

The fan base and expectations that this franchise carries as winners of the Indian Premier League are likely to add a little extra weight to the newly-formed captain Ravindra Jadeja.

As MS Dhoni steps down from captaincy, his role in the team will be a new dimension to look at. 

MS Dhoni has played 204 IPL matches as captain which is the most number of matches played by any player.

He has been the second most successful captain in the Indian Premier League after Rohit Sharma and has made 4456 runs as captain of Chennai Super Kings.

He carries a winning percentage of 59.60 as he won 121 of 204 matches played as captain. 

MS Dhoni the attacking batsman

“It is very important to understand what role MS Dhoni sees himself in this season,” Sunil Gavaskar said. He added, “Whether he will be that senior player who bats at No.7 or No.8 or whether he will bat higher up the order and turn games.”

Leaving the captaincy might ease out MS Dhoni and with all the load and pressure released from his shoulder, he’ll probably be seen enjoying his game more.

He probably will be seen coming to bat up the order, as he did in the early part of his career.

Of 220 matches played in his IPL career, he carries a strike rate of 135.83 and an average of 39.55 runs, including 325 Fours and 219 Sixes.

On the other hand, fans might see more "helicopter shots" and aggressive batting as MS Dhoni would play without any burden and responsibility of captaining the team. 

A big reason for Chennai Super Kings fans to watch the Indian Premier League was to see their "thala" (Head) play as captain and guide his team from behind the stumps.

Sadly, those decisions and referrals now will be missed. Who knows, MS could be this year’s orange cap holder. With Dhoni, everything is possible!!