IPL 2022: Why is MS Dhoni not captaining CSK this season?

For the first time in the Indian Premier League's (IPL) rich history, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will play a season without MS Dhoni at the helm. The legendary captain stepped down from the role on Thursday to hand over the duties to all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. This will be the wicketkeeper-batter's first season as just a player for CSK.

Jadeja's journey to fill the shoes of the four-time IPL winning captain will begin on Saturday at the Wankhade Stadium in Mumbai when CSK take on last year's runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2022 opener.

In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan explained that although the decision came as a surprise to many, it was in the making for a long time. He insisted that Dhoni felt the time was perfect after considering Jadeja's recent red-hot form.

Viswanathan said:

"MS Dhoni was thinking about it. He felt it is the right time to hand over captaincy to Jaddu [Jadeja]. He feels Jaddu is also in prime form of his career and it is the ideal time for him lead CSK. What will be good for the franchise must be [in the] back of his mind."

Viswanathan likened the call to the former India captain's retirement from Test cricket in 2014 and the 'smooth' leadership transition to Virat Kohli. He added:

“He [Jadeja] has been talked to earlier. Even last year there was proposal. We knew he would be the best person to succeed MS. It is similar to when he handed Virat the captaincy after having groomed him for a few years at the international level. Similarly, he wanted the transition to be smooth."

The ICC's top-ranked Test all-rounder, Jadeja has been one of the key performers for CSK since joining them in 2012. He's their third-highest wicket-taker with 109 scalps from 146 matches at an average of 27.97. The southpaw has also contributed 1480 runs - the eighth-highest - at a strike rate of over 137.

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CSK's playing 11 without MS Dhoni as captain against KKR

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja(c), Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(w), Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tushar Deshpande