Widely regarded as one of the greatest captains in the history of cricket, MS Dhoni accomplished a huge landmark on Wednesday (April 12).

As Dhoni took the field in match 17 of IPL 2023 between CSK and RR, he achieved the feat of leading the Chennai-based franchise for the 200th time.

Dhoni, who retired from international cricket in August 2020, was signed by CSK ahead of the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008.

Recalling his journey in the Indian Premier League, Dhoni said that he was grateful towards Chennai and shared his experience from the 2008 season.

"There is always a curiosity to know how a franchise operates. It is a completely new environment. It was also the first time that you were going to share the dressing room with foreign players. And you did not know how they were," MS Dhoni told Star Sports in an interview ahead of the CSK vs RR match.

At the inaugural IPL auction, CSK also secured the services of Australian great Matthew Hayden. Dhoni said he was scared that Hayden would come in and start abusing straight away since that was the impression in his mind after facing the Aussie opener in international cricket.

"Take Matthew Hayden for example, we always thought that he would come and start abusing left right and centre. But it was very interesting that before our first match against Kings XI Punjab, Matthew Hayden took the initiative in the team meeting while discussing strategy. The first thing he said was that he would take Brett Lee on. I did not understand a lot at the time and asked what did he mean. Hayden said that I would walk down the track and meet Brett Lee halfway. On the next day, he repeated the exact thing in the first or second ball of the game. That was the kind of approach he had. So it was very interesting," Dhoni added.

Despite leading the Indian team to the 2007 T20 World Cup triumph, MS Dhoni chose to enter the auction pool in 2008.

Asked about the same, Dhoni said: "I wanted to take a risk by going into the auction. The three (2) teams that did not have a marquee player, even if 2 out of them were interested, along with other franchise, there was a chance of getting a huge payday."

"When the auction happened, I went for $1.5 million, and that was the thinking at that time," he concluded.

Dhoni is the most consistent skipper in IPL history, having led CSK to four IPL titles (2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021 editions).