Picture Credit: Twitter
With just two days left for the first game of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Mahendra Singh Dhoni shocked everyone with his announcement regarding captaincy in IPL. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain, who stayed as the leader right from the inception of the league decided to hand over the baton to Ravindra Jadeja ahead of a crucial season.
CSK released a statement on Thursday announcing MSD's resignation from captaincy and Jadeja's appointment as the new leader of the franchise. "MS Dhoni has decided to hand over the leadership of Chennai Super Kings and picked Ravindra Jadeja to lead the team. Jadeja, who has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2012, will only be the third player to lead CSK. Dhoni will continue to represent Chennai Super Kings this season and beyond," read the statement from the franchise.
While the decision came as a shocker for many, a video has started going viral on the internet in which Deepak Chahar and Ishan Kishan are heard talking about CSK's new captain. In an interview conducted by SportsYaari right after the auction, Ishan Kishan is heard mentioning about the new captain. "Is saal naye captain ke sath inka plan hai ek over powerplay me aur teen over death me (This year he is planning with the new captain to bowl one over in the powerplay and three overs in the death)," says Ishan Kishan in the video.
Watch it here:
Did everyone know about Dhoni's decision?
As it can be seen in the video, Ishan Kishan and Deepak Chahar are confidently mentioning the new captain which clearly means that not only CSK players but players from other franchises also knew about this captaincy change in CSK. However, CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanath has said that Dhoni revealed his decision to relinquish the captaincy duties only a few days ago.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Viswanathan said that Dhoni wanted the leadership "transition" to be smooth and felt Jadeja was ready to take up the mantle for the team, which won its fourth IPL title last year. He said that Dhoni had announced the decision on Thursday at the team meeting before the squad left for training.