IPL 2021: MS Dhoni on verge of creating history, set to become the first player to lead in 300 T20 matches

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is on the verge of creating history. The veteran so far has led in 299 T20s and as soon as he will step in the park against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final, he will become the first man in history to captain in 300 T20 matches. Dhoni has led India, Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL in his career.

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Dhoni is one of the most successful skippers of all time, both in international cricket and IPL. India’s only win in the International T20 Cup came under Dhoni in 2007. In IPL, he has led Chennai Super Kings to three titles (2010,2011 and 2018), second only to Mumbai Indians who have won five titles. The veteran has a phenomenal win percentage in IPL, having won 130 of the 213 matches as a skipper. Rohit Sharma is the second best with 75 wins.

Moreover, the upcoming final will be MS Dhoni’s tenth appearance in the IPL finals. Out of these 10, nine have come while captaining CSK, while he led the now defunct Rising Pune Supergiants in the 2017 IPL final.

Meanwhile, the IPL is set to become a 10 team affair next season. This will be preceded by a mega auction. The BCCI has not yet revealed the retention policy but it is learned that the franchises will be allowed to retain only a few players. With Dhoni not in the best of form, it will be interesting to see if CSK management decides to stick with Dhoni as a player or offer him the mentorship role. Dhoni himself had said that he is not sure if the management will retain him.

“You’ll see me in yellow next season but whether I’ll be playing for CSK you never know. There are a lot of uncertainties coming up, two new teams are coming, we don’t know what the retention rules are and so on.”

CSK has made a remarkable turnaround in the ongoing season after a mediocre outing in 2020. It became the first team to qualify for the playoffs after a dominant run in the league stage. They defeated Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 1 to book a berth in the final.