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Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will lock horns with runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders in a few hours from now in IPL's 2022 season opener at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. While KKR will play under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer, CSK will also play under the newly appointed skipper in the form of Ravindra Jadeja.
Notably, former CSK skipper MS Dhoni-led the side for 12 long years, and during his tenure, he brought several laurels to the franchise. Apart from lifting the IPL title four times, Dhoni's leadership played a crucial role in converting the Chennai franchise into the country's first sports unicorn and building his stature as one of the most successful, consistent and admired cricket franchises in the history of the world. Simultaneously, Dhoni's stature as a player and a skipper grew, and he soon became CSK's poster boy and fan's favourite.
Such is Dhoni's aura amongst CSK fans that they soon started calling him 'Thalaiva', which in Hindi means 'Leader or boss.'
CSK players were preparing for the high-stake game against Kolkata Knight Riders for the season's opener and were returning to their hotel rooms after an intense training session. A CSK fan called out Dhoni and expressed his admiration by saying, "Thala, you will always be my leader." In response, Dhoni acknowledged his fan and moved ahead with his teammates.
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Indeed, the words of CSK fans are an emotion that every cricket fan feels, and even CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan also used the same word in one of his appearances stating, "Dhoni will always be our leader."
Several reports also suggested that CSK's top-brass was taken aback after Dhoni informed them about his decision to quit captaincy ahead of this season and hand over the reign to Ravindra Jadeja. However, amidst a lot of speculation regarding Dhoni's future as a player in Yellow Jersey, Kasi Vishwanathan reportedly confirmed that Thala will be part of the Playing XI and will simultaneously act as a guiding force for other players.