Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
CSK skipper MS Dhoni surprised the cricket fraternity on Thursday after he stepped down from Chennai Super Kings' captaincy role. He passed on the baton to his teammate all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who will be leading the Men in Yellow in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League.
Dropping the bombshell, CSK's official Twitter handle released a statement informing that Jadeja, who has been an integral cog in the side, will be the third player to lead the franchise after MS Dhoni & Suresh Raina. However, MS Dhoni will continue to represent CSK this season and beyond, confirmed the franchise.
However, soon after, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan reportedly confirmed that Dhoni will feature in the Playing XI and will be the guiding force for all the other players in the camp. While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Kashi also confirmed that Dhoni informed about his decision in the team meeting on Thursday minutes before players were leaving for practice session ahead of the season opener.
He also confessed that Dhoni himself took the decision to step down as captain as he believes that Jadeja, who is in his prime form at the moment, is ready to take care of the responsibility. "Dhoni and CSK management earlier discussed the subject of captaincy transition, and Jadeja was alerted before the previous edition. Even last year there was a proposal about the same. We knew Jadeja was the best person to take over the captaincy from Dhoni," quoted Kasi.
CSK CEO further compared the captaincy transition with the way Dhoni handed over his responsibilities of the Indian team to Virat Kohli. "It is similar to what he did in Team India. He groomed Kohli for a few years at the international level. Similarly, he wanted the transition in CSK to be smooth."
Viswanathan also showed immense faith in the newly appointed skipper and said, "Jaddu has the potential to do well for the franchise. He is a good all-around cricketer, playing his best; he can get the team around."