MS Dhoni: Decoding his Indian Premier League captaincy stats
Chennai Super Kings have announced Ruturaj Gaikwad as the captain for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season on Thursday. He replaced Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led CSK to five IPL titles. In between, Dhoni also led Rising Pune Supergiant for a season when CSK were suspended before passing on the baton to Steve Smith. Here we decode Dhoni's captaincy stats.
Most matches captained, highest wins and best win percentage
Dhoni holds the record for the highest number of matches captained in the IPL. As per ESPNcricinfo, he has led in 226 matches, winning 133 times and losing on 91 occasions. Notably, two matches didn't have a result. Dhoni's win percentage of 58.84 is the highest among captains to have led in more than 50 matches.
A win percentage of 60.37% as CSK skipper
Dhoni led CSK on 212 occasions in the IPL from 2008 to 2023. During IPL 2022, he had passed on the reins over to Ravindra Jadeja, who led the side on eight occasions. He won 128 matches as the franchise's leader, in addition to suffering 82 defeats. Notably, two matches didn't have a result. His win percentage as CSK captain stands at 60.95%.
Dhoni managed RPS in the 2016 IPL campaign
CSK were suspended for two seasons - 2016 and 2017 respectively. Dhoni was the skipper of RPS and saw out the season as captain, managing 14 games. He won five matches and lost nine. His win percentage was 35.71.
Second-highest scorer for CSK in the IPL
Dhoni is the second-highest scorer for CSK in the IPL. He has smashed 4,508 runs and is one of two players with 4,500-plus runs alongside Suresh Raina (4,687). Dhoni owns 22 fifties with a best score of 84*. He holds the record for most sixes hit by a player for CSK (209). He has smashed the second-highest fours (316).
One of the seven batters with 5,000-plus runs
Overall, Dhoni is the seventh-highest scorer in IPL history. He owns 5,082 runs at 38.79. His strike rate is 135.91. Dhoni surpassed 5,000 IPL runs in the 2023 season.
Five-time runners-up and five-time IPL champions
For eight successive seasons - 2008 to 2015 - Dhoni led CSK to the top four. CSK finished runners-up on four occasions and won the coveted trophy twice. Dhoni led CSK to the title in 2018 when the franchise returned from its suspension. CSK finished runners-up in 2019 and won the title again in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
CSK had two forgettable seasons
In IPL 2020, CSK finished seventh under Dhoni in what was a terrible campaign. CSK finished ninth in the IPL 2022 as Dhoni stepped down as skipper. Jadeja led in eight matches before stepping down and handing the reigns back to Dhoni.
Second-most runs and highest number of sixes as IPL captain
Meanwhile, Dhoni owns the second-most runs as captain in IPL with a tally of 4,660. He averages 39.82 and holds a strike rate worth 137.46. Only Virat Kohli owns most runs as captain with a tally of 4,994. Dhoni's record of 218 sixes as captain is the most by a player. Kohli has smashed 168 sixes whereas Rohit Sharma owns 158.
