- Wednesday, May 15, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has led the country to win two world cup titles, on Wednesday (12) reached a massive feat in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 while captaining Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
It was the 200th time that Dhoni led the franchise, which he led to four IPL crowns between 2010 and 2021.
Dhoni, who retired international cricket in August 2020, has been leading the Super Kings since the inaugural edition in 2008 and barring two years when the franchise was banned.
In the special game, the 41-year-old won the toss and elected to bowl first. Rajasthan posted a total of 175 for the loss of 8 wickets in their 20 overs.
“It will be slightly on the slower side,” he said, adding, “There could be dew around. Feels good [to lead for 200th time]. The crowd was fantastic. The new stadium is like playing in Switzerland. We have seen cricket change. Feels good to have survived for so long and it’s a format we have to keep evolving. Important to get rid of mistakes in the later stages.”
Dhoni has led the Super Kings to the final four stage of the IPL 11 out of 13 times and to the final nine times, the most by any franchise in the tournament.
Overall, he has led in the IPL on 214 occasions (including Wednesday’s match) as he has also captained now defunct Rising Pune Supergiants for one season.
He has led his sides to win on 125 occasions while in 87 matches, his team lost. One match was inconclusive. Dhoni’s success percentage as a captain in IPL stands at nearly 59 per cent.
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma comes a distant second by captaining in 146 games, winning 80, losing 62 and tying four.
Dhoni has played 237 matches overall in IPL, which is again the most by any player, scoring more than 5,000 runs at a strike rate of 135 plus and with 24 fifties.
