India's most successful captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is no longer the captain of any cricket team. He has “agreed to step aside“ from Rising Pune Supergiant captaincy within a year of taking on that role in the IPL franchise. He was gently told to step down from captaincy by Rising Pune Supergiant management, which anointed Australian captain Steve Smith as the new skipper.
“Dhoni has not stepped down. We have appointed Steve Smith as the skipper for the upcoming season. Frankly speaking, we did not have a good last season and we wanted someone young to lead the side and revamp it ahead of Season 10,” franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka was quoted as saying.
This means that Dhoni, 35, who led the now-suspended Chennai Super Kings from 2008 to 2015 and the Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016, will feature in the IPL for the first time as a regular player - a role he is now accustomed to in Team India under Virat Kohli.
“I have the highest regard for M S Dhoni as a leader and a person. Dhoni will continue to be an important part of our team. He is supportive of the decision keeping the franchisee's best interests in mind,” Goenka, a Kolkata-based business magnate further said in a statement. The concluding episode in the AOL magnum opus will be added only after Dhoni takes a final bow - as a player - from the game he has enriched with his craft and character, on and off the field. As things stand, one may have to wait till after the 2019 ICC World Cup for AOL-IV , unless, of course, Dhoni comes up with yet another declaration to leave one and all stumped.
Under Dhoni, the Rising Pune Supergiant had finished a poor seventh in the eight-team T20 league last season, and not insignificantly, the decision to replace Dhoni with Smith came on Sunday, the eve of IPL players' auction in Bengaluru.
Dhoni, of course, is one of the most successful players in IPL history, having twice won the title (2010 and 2011) and finished runners-up on four occasions with the CSK. On an individual level, Dhoni has led in 143 matches in IPL, winning 83 - the most by any captain. He also led CSK to the Champions League triumph in 2010 and 2014.
The 27-year-old Smith, who has sporadically led Pune Warriors and Rajasthan Royals - his previous two franchises - now faces a twin challenge. He will look to lead Australia to victory in upcoming four Test series in India before trying to shake the Supergiants out of their slumber.
