Picture Credit: Twitter
After leading the side for 12 successful years, MS Dhoni resigned from captaincy and bestowed his trust on his teammate and top-seeded all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for the upcoming season. While Dhoni is regarded as one of the most successful skippers of the franchise, having led the side to four IPL title triumphs and two Champions League T20 trophies, he has earned huge admiration and respect from the cricket fraternity and fans.
The franchise has been captained by the legendary MS Dhoni ever since the inaugural season and has been a brute force to reckon with for the franchise. CSK played the first eight seasons and qualified for the playoffs on every occasion, except for in 2020 season. They are one of the most admired teams in the tournament. Popularly called 'Thala' by CSK fans, Dhoni has carved his name in the tournament's history and every player's heart, regardless of the franchise.
As Dhoni stepped down as skipper of the Yellow Army on Thursday, tributes from all around started pouring in, and everyone expressed their admiration for Thala.
Amidst this, Russell Radhakrishnan, the team manager of CSK, got himself a tattoo of 'Thala' on his chest and inked '2021 Thala'. He posted a picture of himself with the caption 'Forever in my heart and my soul #Respect #myThala.'
Check out his tattoo here:
Even before, Russell inked the name of the franchise with a logo when Chennai won their third title in 2018, defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final of IPL. CSK made a strong comeback this season and won the title for the third time. Chennai was sensational throughout the campaign and hardly allowed anyone to dictate their terms.
In the last phase of the round-robin stage, they were outplayed by few franchises but came back stronger and defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad twice to win the IPL for the third time.
Dhoni will be the guiding force: Jadeja
After being appointed as full-time CSK skipper, Jadeja said that he has a huge legacy to carry forward and will try his best. Jadeja also hailed Dhoni for being the "guiding force for all the players" and said he will continue to do so. In a video message posted by the CSK franchise, Jadeja said that "I don't need to worry too much because Dhoni bhai is just here and whatever question I need to ask, I'll definitely go to him... He was my go-to person and he still is today, so I'm not worried too much."
Check out the video: