'An Everlasting Bond With the Fans': MS Dhoni Meets CSK Fans in During Practice Session Ahead of IPL 2024 Opener

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are now all set to begin their title defence. CSK will be up against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener scheduled to be played on March 22 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Apart from CSK’s title defence, fans are also eagerly waiting to witness legendary skipper MS Dhoni’s return to competitive cricket. Quashing the retirement rumours surrounding him, Dhoni has already started his preparations for IPL 2024 by taking part in CSK’s training sessions. In a video shared by CSK on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Dhoni can be seen signing autographs.

“Signing an everlasting bond with the fans,” read the post shared by CSK.

Despite enduring an injury last season, MS Dhoni exhibited his supreme leadership prowess to guide CSK to their fifth IPL title. Dhoni, at the age of 42, may look fit enough to continue but discussions have already taken place about finding the World Cup-winning skipper’s potential successor in the team.

READ MORE: Delhi Capitals Celebrate Rishabh Pant’s Return Ahead of IPL 2024 With Special Post-WATCH

CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan recently revealed the discussion with the franchise owner and ex-Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief N Srinivasan over the matter.

“See, there have been internal talks. But, Mr. Srinivasan has made it very clear. Let’s not talk about captain and vice-captain appointments. Let’s leave it to the coach and the captain to decide. Let them decide and convey the information to me, and then I will convey it to you all. He has said that ‘the captain and the coach will decide and give us a directive, till then let’s all keep quiet’,” Viswanathan told former CSK cricketer S Badrinath in the latter’s YouTube show.

READ MORE: Who Will Be CSK Captain After MS Dhoni? CEO Kasi Viswanathan Provides Massive Update Ahead of IPL 2024

Having played 250 matches in IPL so far, MS Dhoni has registered an average of 38.79 and a strike rate of 135.92. The former India skipper has till now scored 24 half-centuries in the IPL. Dhoni has 5082 IPL runs under his belt.

CSK IPL 2024 Full Squad: MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.