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Picture Credit: Twitter

Legendary skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has stepped down from CSK captaincy and handed over the responsibility to his teammate and top-seeded all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. The announcement was made via the official Twitter handle of the Chennai franchise on Thursday afternoon, sending shock waves amongst cricket fans. Dhoni, who has led the Yellow Army since 2008, had quite a successful stint as CSK skipper.

Dhoni led the side to four title triumphs and helped the side to earn the tag of the most successful franchise of the tournament. While Dhoni resigned from the top post in the team, a few month-old video of Thala resurfaced where the former skipper assured his fans that he would play his last game in Yellow Jersey at Chepauk Stadium and nowhere else. In a felicitation ceremony organised by Super Kings, Thala promised his fans that he would win his last T20 match in Chennai.

"Whether it's next year or in five years' time, we don't really know," Dhoni said amidst loud cheer from the crowd.

Post-announcement, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan reportedly 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. Quoted by ESPNCricinfo, the CEO said, "Dhoni and CSK management earlier discussed the subject of captaincy transition, and Jadeja was alerted before the previous edition.

As Ravindra Jadeja has been appointed as CSK skipper and CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan already claimed that Dhoni believes this is the right time to move on from the top job and trusted the quality all-rounder as he is in the form of his life, it does not look far when Dhoni bids goodbye to the cash-rich league. However, Dhoni's decision came as a surprise to many, but several cricket pundits claimed that it's the perfect time to groom Ravindra Jadeja as Dhoni will be part of the Playing XI in the upcoming season and can help Jadeja with his rich experience.