Franchise poster boy MS Dhoni will be the captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the next year's Indian Premier League (IPL 16) season, the team's chief Kasi Viswanathan on September 4 (Sunday) told Sports Tak. The former India captain, who has won all major ICC tournaments with the Men in Blue, is one of the greatest leaders the game has ever seen. Dhoni has been associated with CSK since the inception of the cash-rich league back in 2008. He has represented the Yellow in each of the 15 IPL editions so far, except for the two seasons when the franchise was suspended from the league. Dhoni has led the franchise to four IPL titles (2010, 2011, 2018, and 2021) during his reign as the franchise's captain.
Dhoni decided to quit captaincy ahead of IPL 2022, with Ravindra Jadeja taking the baton from the charismatic skipper. Under Jadeja's captaincy, CSK didn't have an ideal start to the season and the team was soon struggling to get their season going. CSK lost six of the eight matches in which Jadeja led the franchise. Amidst mounting pressure and poor individual performance, the Indian all-rounder decided to give the captaincy back to the wicketkeeper-batter. In what was a tumultuous campaign, the four-time IPL champions finished ninth on the points table in 2022 with just four wins and 14 games.
Dhoni boasts a staggering record as CSK captain. The 41-year-old has led the franchise in 219 matches, winning 132 and losing 85 contests. One match under Dhoni's captaincy has ended in a tie while one ended in No Result. He has a win percentage of 60.77% as CSK skipper.
The veteran decision-maker will have a huge task up his sleeves in the next IPL season. The Yellow Army performed poorly in IPL-15 and Dhoni would need to inspire the team to bury the demons of a horrendous campaign in order to reach the heights the franchise is historically known to attain.
