MS Dhoni Will Continue as CSK Captain Next IPL Season, Confirms CEO Kasi Viswanathan

CSK's faint chance of finishing in the top-four of IPL 2020 ended after Rajasthan Royals pummelled Mumbai Indians by eight wickets this Sunday.

IPL 2020 has been the worst season in Chennai Super Kings’ history as they have been eliminated from the playoffs race for the first time. However, that doesn’t mean that CSK will ring in wholesale changes for the next season including replacing MS Dhoni as the captain, says their CEO Kasi Viswanathan.

CSK’s faint chance of finishing in the top-four of IPL 2020 ended after Rajasthan Royals pummelled Mumbai Indians by eight wickets this Sunday.

“Yes, definitely. I am very confident that Dhoni will lead CSK in 2021,” Viswanathan told The Times of India. “He has won three titles for us in the IPL. This is the first year we have not qualified for the playoffs. No other team has done that. One bad year does not mean we will have to change everything.”

CSK were often criticised for sticking with the ageing players and not giving enough chances to the youngsters. When asked the reason behind that, Dhoni had said the young brigade failed to show spark that would have pushed their experienced campaigners out of the playing XIs.

Those comments were criticised by the likes of former India captain and world cup winner Kris Srikkanth who questioned what spark Piyush Chawla and Kedar Jadhav had shown to merit Dhoni’s confidence.

Viswanathan reckons that the absence of key players upset their team balance.

“We didn’t play to our potential this season. We lost games that we should have won. That pushed us back. The withdrawals of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh coupled with Covid cases in the camp meant that the balance of the side was upset,” he said.

Languishing at the bottom of the points table, CSK have two matches left, against Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. They have lost eight of their 12 matches so far and will be aiming to sign off on a high.