IPL 2022: MS Dhoni revealed wish to give up CSK captaincy last season, reveals coach Stephen Fleming

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming on Saturday (March 26) said that Mahendra Singh Dhoni relinquishing captaincy of the IPL team this year was not a sudden decision as it was ‘talked about’ during the last season. Fleming, however, said the timing of stepping down from CSK captaincy was left to Dhoni.

“We have talked about it. It is something MS talked about with me during last season. The timing was though his call,” Fleming said at the virtual post-match press conference after CSK lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in the IPL 2022 lung-opener.

ade us mile again! #THA7A #WhistlePodu pic.twitter.com/oERdmcaUN6 — Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 26, 2022

After twelve seasons, four title triumphs and five runner-up finishes later, the iconic Dhoni on Thursday decided to hand over the captaincy of CSK to his trusted lieutenant, Ravindra Jadeja. In a brief statement, CSK had said that the 40-year-old will continue to represent the franchise for the ‘season and beyond’, having led one of the most successful IPL sides since the tournament's inception in 2008 – barring the two seasons when the team was suspended in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal.

Fleming said the transition from Dhoni to Jadeja has gone nicely. “It has been documented widely to give Jadeja a clean slate going in the series (IPL). It was communicated to (Mr Srinivasan) through the team,” the former Kiwi captain said.

“So, we have 100 per cent spoken about that. It has been a bit of transition here, it has been a little bit of change but went through nicely.”

Shreyas Iyer and Sheldon Jackson guided Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their first victory in IPL 2022 with win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the opening contest in Mumbai. Former CSK captain MS Dhoni's blazing innings of 50 runs went in vain thanks to good batting from Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer, who helped KKR pull off the chase in 18.3 overs with six wickets remaining to collect their first points.

KKR, who lost to CSK in the last season summit clash, chased down the 132-run target with nine balls to spare, with out of favour India batter Ajinkya Rahane top-scoring with a 34-ball 44.

(with PTI inputs)