Chennai Super Kings announced Ruturaj Gaikwad as a new captain a day before the opening match of the Indian Premier League 2024 on Thursday, March 21. The rising star replaced legendary MS Dhoni as the captain of the most successful IPL team at the beginning of the new era for the cash-rich league.
Dhoni's decision to step down also kicks off a new chapter in IPL history as the fans will witness neither Dhoni, Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli leading any team for the first time in the last 10 years. Dhoni has been leading CSK since the league's inception in 2008.
Virat Kohli took captaincy reins from Daniel Vettori in the 2013 edition at Royal Challengers Bangalore while Rohit replaced Ricky Ponting mid-season for Mumbai Indians in 2013. Dhoni remains the only cricketer to captain in more than 200 IPL games and is the only skipper to win over 100 games.
Dhoni, 42, also holds the highest winning percentage of 58.84 as captain in IPL history among the players with the experience of leading teams in a minimum of 50 games. Dhoni also led defunt Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL 2016 where he was famously axed ahead of the 2017 edition.
Most appearances as IPL captains:
| Player | Matches | W | L | T | NR | Winning % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | 226 | 133 | 91 | 0 | 2 | 58.84 |
| Rohit Sharma | 158 | 87 | 67 | 4 | 0 | 55.06 |
| Virat Kohli | 143 | 66 | 70 | 3 | 4 | 46.15 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 129 | 71 | 57 | 1 | 0 | 55.03 |
| David Warner | 83 | 40 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 48.19 |
With Dhoni and Rohit no longer leading their respective franchises in 2024, Shreyas Iyer, captain at Kolkata Knight Riders, has emerged as the most experienced leader with experience of leading in 55 IPL matches while Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaiwad and Pat Cummins are set to make their debut as captains in the upcoming season.
