Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming on Saturday (26th March) said that MS Dhoni stepping down as the skipper of the franchise was not a sudden decision as the wicketkeeper-batter talked about it during the last season.
After leading CSK for a long time, Dhoni on 24th March stepped down as the skipper of the team and passed on the leadership baton to Ravindra Jadeja. It came as a surprise for many as he relinquished captaincy just a few days before the side’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders.
His decision left many shocked as they expressed their disappointment about the fact that they won’t see him captaining the side anymore and walking out for tosses. Few even called it an end of an era.
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Speaking in a press conference after the 6-wicket defeat to KKR, Stephen Fleming revealed that MS Dhoni spoke to him about his plans to step down as CSK skipper last year.
Calling it a ‘bit of change’, Fleming said that the transition from Dhoni to Jadeja has gone nicely.
"We have talked about it. It is something MS talked about with me during last season. The timing was though his call. It has been documented widely to give Jadeja a clean slate going in the series (IPL).
“It was communicated to (Mr Srinivasan) through the team. So, we have 100 per cent spoken about that. It has been a bit of transition here, it has been a little bit of change but went through nicely,” Stephen Fleming said.
Dhoni will go down as one of the most successful captains in the league. Having led CSK to title victories in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021, the wicketkeeper-batter captained the franchise in 204 IPL games. He won 121 games as a skipper with a 59.60% win record. He also led them to two Champions League titles.
Notably, Ravindra Jadeja’s stint as the CSK skipper started with a 6-wicket loss against KKR. On the other hand, the keeper-batter smashed an unbeaten half-century with the team in deep trouble early on.
(PTI inputs)
