On Thursday, March 21, it was officially confirmed that the legendary captain and wicketkeeper-batsman, MS Dhoni, He will no longer be the captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
The franchise made the shocking announcement a day before IPL 2024 begins. In the opening match of the competition, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Chennai on March 22.
As of now, star opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad will be seen leading five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the league. MS Dhoni will end his captaincy career as the most successful skipper in the history of the competition.
MS Dhoni, who led CSK to five IPL titles, played 226 matches as captain in the Indian Premier League (IPL), of which he won 133 and lost 91. Furthermore, he is the only captain to have played more than 200 matches. and won more than 100 matches as IPL captain.
After it was confirmed through the official IPL social media that Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead the franchise in the upcoming season, X fans started speculating that the CSK franchise had sacked MS Dhoni. The word “fired” became one of the main trends on the platform and these are some of the reactions from fans:
Dhoni was fired through a Twitter post 💔🙁 pic.twitter.com/7BmEVFjEW7
— Honest Dhoni fan💛💛 (@WhistlePoduCsk7) March 21, 2024
MS Dhoni sacked from CSK captaincy….
Thala RN fans: pic.twitter.com/vw03DxCWHK
-UmdarTamker (@UmdarTamker) March 21, 2024
Rohit Sharma was sacked by Hardik Pandya
Dhoni is now the only IPL captain to have been dismissed three times
We were not fired by the IPL captaincy 😎
— (@DilipVK18) March 21, 2024
Mumbai Indians sack Rohit as captain for IPL 2024
CSK sacks MS Dhoni from captaincy for IPL 2024Meanwhile, RCB never disrespected or dismissed their main players Kohli and ABD. When you are big, you are big. pic.twitter.com/5R2pOvjJWc
-Kevin (@imkevin149) March 21, 2024
– Dhoni was dismissed twice in IPL
– Rohit Sharma was sacked by Hardik Pandya
We were never fired from IPL 😎👑. pic.twitter.com/vihDY6CF4k— M. (@IconicKohIi) March 21, 2024
Unlike the other 3, our own franchise didn’t fire us. Gambhirfc keeps winning pic.twitter.com/0bQurGK6XE
– babu bisleri (@baabuOP) March 21, 2024
We never played with any junior and they fired us 🦁☝🏻@GautamGambhir Supremacy pic.twitter.com/ISoK1yA0oF
-Aditya (@switch_hit18) March 21, 2024
CSK CEO opens up about MS Dhoni’s quiet resignation from captaincy ahead of IPL 2024
While fans were upsetting MS Dhoni for being sacked, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) issued an official press release to inform about the matter. The franchise clearly mentioned that Dhoni has not been sacked but he himself decided to hand over the CSK captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad.
“MS Dhoni has handed over the captaincy of Chennai Super Kings 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 is looking forward to the upcoming season,” Chennai Super Kings (CSK) said in an official press release.
Meanwhile, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan also broke his silence on the matter and revealed that he was informed that Dhoni would resign as captain just before the IPL captains’ meeting. He added that the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman took the decision in the best interest of the team.
“Whatever Dhoni does, it will be for the good of the team. I found out about the decision just before the captains’ meeting. We have to respect their decision, it is their decision,” CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told PTI.
Viswanathan also admitted that the captaincy change didn’t work out last time at CSK, but was optimistic that things would go well this time.
“That captaincy transition (Ravindra Jadeja) didn’t work out but this is different,” added CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan.
Notably, ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, MS Dhoni handed over the captaincy to star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to move things forward. The all-rounder seemed completely faded after becoming captain and his performance went downhill. Dhoni was forced to take over as captain mid-season and in the next edition of IPL he even guided his team to their fifth IPL championship by beating Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final.