Former Indian captain MS Dhoni handed over the CSK captain role to Ravindra Jadeja. This is not the first time MSD shocked the world, even his international retirement came as a piece of shocking news to everyone.
Jadeja Named as New CSK Captain
MS Dhoni announced his international retirement on August 15, 2020, and stunned the whole cricket community. Right after his decision of stepping down from the captaincy role CSK named all-rounder Jadeja as their new captain who spent a lot of quality time under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.
“MS Dhoni has decided to hand over the leadership of Chennai Super Kings and picked Ravindra Jadeja to lead the team. Jadeja, who has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2012, will only be the third player to lead CSK. Dhoni will continue to represent Chennai Super Kings this season and beyond,” said a statement from the franchise.
There’s nothing that could have prepared us for this! Let the Bigils take over! 🧊➡️🔥#Superfam #WhistlePodu 🦁💛 @msdhoni @imjadeja pic.twitter.com/sfu9xyclWw
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 24, 2022
Dhoni, who had been the captain of CSK since the inception of the league in 2008, had already retired from international cricket in August 2020. Under his captaincy, Chennai won the IPL trophy in 2010, 2011, 2018, and 2021 apart from winning two now-defunct Champions League T20 titles in 2010 and 2014.
How and When Dhoni Decide to Give-up CSK Captaincy
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan revealed that Dhoni was already planning to leave captaincy and was waiting for the right moment.
“He announced the decision at a team meeting today after practice. But he was already thinking about it. MS thought Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) was ready to take the mantle and was at his best form to take the leadership role,” CSK CEO told.
According to the report, CSK insiders say they were taken by surprise when Dhoni informed the CEO about his decision in the morning. He also said that he wanted to speak chairman of India cements and former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N. Srinivasan.
Dhoni – Srinivasan Phone Conversation
Around 10 in the morning a request was made to Srinivasan’s office from CSK team CEO in Mumbai. In the afternoon, Dhoni got on a call with Mr. Srinivasan and informed him about his decision.
People close to Dhoni say that Srinivasan was also taken aback initially but at the end of the call, he understood it. The call lasted for about 10 minutes.
After the call, Dhoni informed the entire team during a team meeting about his decision, much like Virat Kohli had done while giving up Test captaincy earlier this year. At the players meeting itself, Ravindra Jadeja was announced as CSK captain.
The all-rounder has been in fine form for CSK in the past couple of IPL seasons. He accumulated 232 and 227 runs in the 2020 and 2021 IPLs, alongside taking 19 wickets over those two seasons.
One of his best performances in that period came against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium last year, when he cracked a game-turning 28-ball 62.
