In a surprise development ahead of the start of the IPL 2022 cricket tournament, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has announced that Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( MSD ) will hand over the captaincy of CSK to Ravindra Jadeja. Of course, MSD will play for CSK in this season.

The development comes as a shock to the cricketing world as well as brand consultants as few expected Dhoni, who steered CSK to bag the trophy in four IPL seasons, including a memorable win last year as well as helped the franchise become a cult brand, would relinquish his leadership position so soon.

“At the time of negotiations, it was indicated that MSD was fit enough to play this season. He will turn 41 this year and we were assured that Dhoni would play IPL 2022, but for next year and beyond it would depend on Dhoni’s decision.

“So, we knew that Dhoni would be here for this season and accordingly we calibrated our plans and took a call to be a sponsor for CSK this time. I won’t say we didn’t expect it though the captaincy shift was a surprise,” said a top official of one of CSK’s sponsors. Apparently, Dhoni himself said in a meeting recently that he would play for CSK for a maximum of one or two seasons.

“Probably, Dhoni has passed on the baton now to focus on building the team for future. After relinquishing his post as the Captain of the Indian Cricket team, Dhoni played under Virat Kohli and guided him. I am sure he would do the same for Jadeja too,” said a senior official of another CSK sponsor.

‘Interesting’ timing

Many describe the timing of the captaincy change move as rather strategic, waiting for all the sponsors to come on board.

The timing is interesting, points out Giraj Sharma, founder, Behind the Moon, a brand consultancy and an ardent IPL watcher. “Even though Jadeja is a class player, Dhoni has higher market value,” he points, adding that Dhoni’s leadership is the source of brand identity for him, not his wicket-keeping or batting, where he has been struggling, of late. He may now be there as a guide or mentor, opines Sharma.

Of late, India Cements, owner of CSK , has been engaging Dhoni, who is also the Vice-President (Marketing) of the cement major, for its marketing and other promotional campaigns, signalling his growing focus on corporate role as N Srinivasan , Vice- Chairman and Managing Director, of the company keeps reiterating that MSD will always be part of India Cements.

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