MS Dhoni steps down, Ruturaj Gaiwad to lead CSK in IPL 2024

Fivetime IPL champions Chennai Super Kings CSK announced star opener Ruturaj Gikwad as the sides new skipper of the team on Thursday ahead of the upcoming season of IPL 2024The decision marks the end of Dhonis long reign at the helm of the CSK during which he led them to five IPL titlesMS Dhoni handed over Chennai Super Kings captaincy to batter Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the start of the Indian Premier League IPL 2024 Ruturaj has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2019 and has played 52 matches in IPL during this period CSK informed through an official statement on ThursdayHe led the CSK in 212 IPL matches winning 128 matches and losing 82 Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15 2020 after leading the team to glory in the 2007 T20 World Cup 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions TrophyLast year Dhoni led the Chennai franchise to a recordequalling fifth IPL title against the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad The 42yearold who remains one of Indian crickets most admired faces enjoying fandom that rivals that of some current stars captained Chennai since the inaugural IPL season in 2008 barring two years when the franchise was suspended from the tournament over fixing chargesHe handed over the captaincy mantle to starallrounder Ravindra Jadeja at the start of the 2022 season but returned to lead the franchise again after just eight matches into the seasonAlso ReadCricket great Kallicharran is 75 todayRuturaj was part of CSKs victorious IPL 2023 campaign One of the heroes of the campaign that year the Maharashtra batter stitched important partnerships with fellow opener Devon Conway for the Chennai franchiseIn 16 matches in the 2023 season Gaikwad scored 590 runs at an average of 4214 He also scored four halfcenturies in the tournament with a best score of 92In his IPL career since making his debut for the CSK in 2019 and finding yellove from the fans he has scored 1797 runs at an average of 3907 and a strike rate of 13552 He has scored one century and 14 fifties with best score of 101He has also featured in 9 T20Is for India aggregating 135 runs with one fifty He has also represented India in one ODI scoring 19 runsThe 17th season of the Indian Premier League IPL will kick off on March 22 with last years champions going head to head with the Faf Du Plesisled Royal Challengers Bengaluru RCB in a South Indian derby at the latters home arenaMA Chidambaram StadiumCSK squad for IPL 2024 Ruturaj Gaikwad C MS Dhoni WK Moeen Ali Deepak Chahar Tushar Deshpande Shivam Dube Rajvardhan Hangargekar Ravindra Jadeja Ajay Mandal Mukesh Choudhary Ajinkya Rahane Shaik Rasheed Mitchell Santner Simarjeet Singh Nishant Sindhu Prashant Solanki Maheesh Theekshana Rachin Ravindra Shardul Thakur Daryl Mitchell Sameer Rizvi Mustafizur Rahman Avanish Rao AravellyWith agency inputs