Ravichandran Ashwin Picks MS Dhoni's Successor In Chennai Super Kings; It's Not Jadeja

Having claimed the Indian Premier League (IPL) title last time, Chennai Super Kings will now head into the competition as the clear favourites next season. Under the leadership of MS Dhoni, Chennai succeeded in winning their fifth IPL title earlier this year. Chennai appear to be quite a formidable unit with Dhoni leading them from the front. Ravichandran Ashwin, however, feels that the Chennai-based franchise will have to focus on captaincy.

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The Indian spinner stated that young batter Ruturaj Gaikwad can be considered as Chennai’s next captain. Ashwin also talked about England skipper Ben Stokes’ IPL prospects. Stokes was released by the Chennai team management ahead of the IPL 2024 mini-auction.

“The holes that CSK will try to fill are ones of captaincy, which I believe Ruturaj Gaikwad is going to take over, as Ambati Rayudu said in his latest interview. Ben Stokes, too, was taken by CSK on the same philosophy of playing an able right hand. Needless to say, he is a quality leader, and CSK is a team that values experience. I think they’ll go back to Shardul and get their combination back,” Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

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“Another thing that they would be thinking about is who is the replacement keeper for MS Dhoni and even about retention next year. Actually, there were so many rumours in the air that CSK was going to trade this player to see him as a future successor to MS Dhoni. I don’t want to call out names, as I am also playing in a franchise. But a team like CSK is filled with thinkers,”Ravichandran Ashwin added.

Ahead of the IPL 2024 mini-auction, Chennai Super Kings decided to release some big names like Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorius, Ambati Rayudu and Kyle Jamieson. The five-time IPL champions will enter the mini-auction with INR 31.4 crore in their purse. The IPL 2024 mini-auction is scheduled to take place in Dubai on December 19.

A few days back, Chennai Super Kings had announced MS Dhoni’s return to IPL next year. Sharing a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, the franchise wrote, “2024- A Gift from Thala! Start the whistles!”

In IPL 2023, Chennai Super Kings defeated Gujarat Titans in the final to emerge victorious. The victory helped Chennai in equaling Mumbai Indians’ record of the most number of IPL titles-5.