CSK skipper MS Dhoni surprised the cricket fraternity on Thursday by announcing that he will be passing the baton to his teammate Ravindra Jadeja to lead the Men in Yellow in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. Dropping the bombshell, CSK's official Twitter handle released a statement informing that Jadeja, who has been an integral cog in the side, will be the third player to lead the franchise, and Dhoni will continue to represent CSK in this season and beyond.

However, soon after, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan reportedly confirmed that Dhoni will feature in the Playing XI and will be the guiding force for all the other players. While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Kashi also confirmed that Dhoni informed about his decision in the team meeting on Thursday minutes before players were leaving for the practice session ahead of the season's opener against Kolkata Knight Riders on March 26.

CSK CEO also confessed that Dhoni himself took the decision to step down as captain as he believes that Jadeja, who is in his prime form at the moment, is ready to take care of the responsibility.

Quoted by ESPNCricinfo, the CEO said, "Dhoni and CSK management earlier discussed the subject of captaincy transition, and Jadeja was alerted before the previous edition. Even last year there was a proposal about the same. We knew Jadeja was the best person to take over the captaincy from Dhoni."

However, Kashi Viswanathan also conveyed in his conversation to ESPNCricinfo that Dhoni personally didn't inform him of his decision. But, for the past two years, there were speculations about Dhoni's future as captain.

MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni leads his sideIPL Twitter

CSK CEO further compared the CSK's captaincy transition with the way Dhoni handed over his responsibilities of the Indian team to Virat Kohli.

"It is similar to what he did in team India. He groomed Kohli for a few years at the international level. Similarly, he wanted the transition in CSK to be smooth. Viswanathan also showed immense faith in the newly appointed skipper and said that "Jaddu has the potential to do well for the franchise. He is a good all-around cricketer, playing his best; he can get the team around. And MS' guidance will always be there. This will be a good induction programme."

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