It is an end of an era in the Indian Premier League as Mahendra Singh Dhoni hands over the keys of the Chennai Super Kings captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja. In typical MS Dhoni style, the announcement was made with very little fanfare and prior intimation, with a statement released on the CSK website stating that the wicketkeeper would relinquish his role as captain for the 2022 season, allowing Jadeja to take up the mantle as skipper.
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MS Dhoni and the captain’s armband has been synonymous with the Yellow jersey and Chennai Super Kings team, and the 40-year-old is the last remaining relic of the inaugural edition of the IPL as one of the eight original captains of the franchisees alongside the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Shane Warne, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar.
Dhoni has left a lasting legacy in yellow as he transformed the fortunes of individual players and galvanised the team and its fanbase with his Midas touch. The Jharkhand wicketkeeper has scaled every summit as the leader of the franchise and as he bids goodbye to his official leadership duties, we look back at his magical captaincy career with the Chennai Super Kings through the numbers.
9 – The number of IPL finals Chennai Super Kings appeared in under MS Dhoni’s leadership, the most in IPL history. As a player, Dhoni has also made the most appearances in an IPL final, reaching the grand stage nine times with CSK and once with Pune in 2017.
4 – IPL Titles won by MS Dhoni with the Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni is the second most decorated captain of all time in the IPL, winning one title fewer than Rohit Sharma as skipper.
204 – Number of IPL matches in which MS Dhoni has captained CSK, an IPL record.
121 – Number of victories CSK achieved under the leadership of MS Dhoni, making the wicketkeeper the most successful captain of all time in the IPL.
455 – Number of runs scored by MS Dhoni in Chennai’s IPL title-winning 2018 season at an average of 75.8 and a strike rate of 150.
59.6 – MS Dhoni’s winning percentage as captain, putting him number two on the list behind Rohit Sharma (59.68%).
4456 – Number of runs scored by MS Dhoni as captain in the IPL, making him the second-highest run-scorer as captain in IPL history after Virat Kohli (4881).
1 – Number of times CSK failed to qualify for the playoffs under MS Dhoni’s leadership (2020), with the Men in Yellow earning an average league position of 2.67.
[Featured Image Credit: ANI]
Shivaan Shah