The man of milestone MS Dhoni scripted history the moment he stepped on the Chepauk's pitch for the toss in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023's match no.17 between former champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday (April 12).
Dhoni clicked on a rare milestone as he became the only player in the history of cash-rich league to play 200 matches for a single franchise (CSK) as a captain.
Dhoni has propelled CSK to the playoffs 11 times out of his 13 IPL seasons for the franchise. In total Dhoni has featured in 213 matches as the captain of an IPL team. The four-time champions CSK have featured in IPL final nine times under Dhoni's captaincy.
Talking about Dhoni's captaincy track-record for CSK before clash against RR, he has won 120 matches for CSK in a total of 199 matches as CSK skipper with a winning percentage of an incredible 60.61 per cent.
Follow the CSK vs RR's live scores here
Meanwhile, Dhoni also received a special ‘Thala 200’ memento ahead of the match against RR at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium (April 12).
On Dhoni's special day, N Srinivasan, former chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) presented Dhoni with ‘Thala 200’ memento.
Here's the video…
In total Dhoni has played 213 IPL matches as skipper while featuring for CSK and Rising Pune Supergiants IPL. Dhoni has a winning percentage of 58.96 in those 213 IPL matches as he has clinched victories in 125 matches and has suffered defeats in 87 of them.
Recently in the ongoing IPL's season Dhoni achieved a rare feat of completing 5000 runs. Dhoni, who made his IPL debut in 2008 against King XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) back in 2008, Dhoni joined the elite list of batting juggernauts AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Warner, Rohit Sharma and Raina.
Meanwhile, Dhoni won the toss against RR and opted to bowl first.
"It will be slightly on the slower side," Dhoni says. "There could be dew around. Feels good [to lead for 200th time]. The crowd was fantastic. The new stadium is like playing in Switzerland. We have seen cricket change. Feels good to have survived for so long and it's a format we have to keep evolving. Important to get rid of mistakes in the later stages. A few changes - Santner and Pretorius make way for Moeen and Theekshana," CSK skipper Dhoni said after winning the toss.
"We would have liked to bat first," says Samson. "Important to keep up the momentum. Always a pleasure to come to Chepauk and play against CSK and Mahi bhai. A few changes with the impact rule - Boult misses out because of a niggle," RR captain Sanju Samson said after the toss.
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Subs: Riyan Parag, Donavon Ferreira, KM Asif, Adam Zampa, Joe Root
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Sisanda Magala, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Singh.
Subs: Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, RS Hangargekar.
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