With newly-appointed Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad walking out with the IPL trophy to a huge roar ahead of the tournament opener, fans on social media hope for the Yellow Army to win their 6th title. Gaikwad won his 2nd title with the Super Kings last year and smashed 590 runs in 6 matches.
MS Dhoni pulled off a shocker as he relinquished his captaincy duties, just 24 hours before the tournament started. The 42-year-old has stepped down as the most successful skipper in history, leading the franchise in 226 matches and is the joint-most successful captain along with Rohit Sharma in history with 5 titles.
However, Gaikwad remained unfazed by the responsibility and instead is excited by the same. The 27-year-old right-handed batter also underlined that he has plenty of support system in place in the form of Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, and Ravindra Jadeja to rely on.
Here's how netizens have reacted to Ruturaj Gaikwad's debut as CSK captain:
"Last year itself, Mahi bhai had hinted about captaincy" - Ruturaj Gaikwad
Speaking to IPLT20.com, Gaikwad stated that Dhoni had thrown a massive hint about captaincy last year itself and elaborated:
"Last year itself, Mahi bhai had hinted about captaincy at some point of time. He just hinted that, 'be ready, it shouldn't be a surprise to you'. When we came into the camp, he involved me in some of the match simulation."
"I remember him posting about a new role on social media and everybody was pointing towards me and asking me, 'are you the next captain?'. I was like, 'maybe it meant something else for social media'. But back of the mind, it was there. He came and said, 'I've decided this and this', but definitely now that I'm here, I'm looking forward to this."
RCB captain Faf du Plessis has won the toss and elected to bat first in Chennai.
