Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the most successful franchise in the IPL might be heading towards the end of an era and legacy in the 2024 edition. The legend and five-time IPL-winning skipper MS Dhoni, who wanted to play for the fans for one more time after leading his side to a title last year, might be playing his final season in the tournament. But who takes over Dhoni after he is done? That’s the question that has been surrounding the franchise, the team management, the owners and the fans.

Now CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan has spoken on the topic in detail saying that there has been internal talk on this matter but mentioned that the team owner N Srinivasan has left the decision on captain Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming to take. Speaking to S Badrinath on former CSK batter’s YouTube channel, Viswanathan said, “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’,” he added.

CSK despite injuries and a loss of form to a couple of players managed to win the tournament and this time around even though Devon Conway will not be there for majority of the season, the franchise has enough and quality backups that might do the job for them again as the Men in Yellow look all set to defend their title.

Asked about the message from Dhoni ahead of the new season, Viswanathan said, “We have always focused on qualifying for the knockouts. That’s our first aim. After that, it depends on the performance on that day. We are following that even now. Before every season, MS Dhoni tells us ‘first let us concentrate on league games. We will look to qualify for the knockouts’. Yes, the pressure is there. But over the years, because of our consistency, most of the players are used to this pressure.”

CSK did get into action with their succession plan in 2022 by making Ravindra Jadeja the captain. However, that didn’t work quite well for the side and Dhoni took back the captaincy and as they say the rest is history.