Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise – Chennai Super Kings (CSK) appointed Rajiv Kumar –under whom MS Dhoni played First-class matches, as their fielding coach for the IPL 2018. He is all set to replace Steve Rixon for the upcoming edition of the tournament, starting from 7 April in Mumbai.

One of the main reasons for Rajiv's selection is his great rapport with former Indian skipper. The 41-year-old and CSK skipper –Dhoni has played together for Jharkhand for quite a few years.

Rajiv has a quite lot of coaching experience in the United Kingdom apart from being the coach  of  Jharkhand side in the Ranji Trophy last season.

However, the yellow Army is already laced with the some great of the game, including Stephen Fleming, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Mike Hussey, Lakshmi Narayanan etc. But Rajiv’s addition will give CSK an extra edge, as he has already played with Dhoni and their combination would be definitely bringing the result into the table for the two-time IPL champions.

On Wednesday (28 March), Rajiv has joined CSK's preparatory camp at the MA Chidambaram Stadium and turned up into action, doing specialized fielding drills for the players.

CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told TOI, “Dhoni has a great rapport with him and knows him since his playing days. With Rixon not there, we felt the need for an extra hand during the pre-season training camp and during the tournament. So we went with Rajiv.”

Kasi signed off by saying, “Rajiv brings to the table certain specific skills as fielding coach. He has good coaching experience, he bonds well with the players and he has sound knowledge about local talents.”