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SPORTS                                                                MARCH 15, 2024       |  The Indian Eye 44



                                                                IPL 2024



            New role for Dhoni in CSK,





               Cummins to lead SRH as





            Lucknow awaits KL Rahul







            The 17th season of the Indian Premier League will start on March 22, with defending champions

                               Chennai Super Kings set to clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore



        OUR BUREAU                                                                                            has believed in changing their head
                                                                                                              coach and captain every year for the
        Mumbai/New Delhi/Ahmedabad
                                                                                                              last four seasons in order to taste suc-
              head of the upcoming sea-                                                                       cess in the Indian Premier League
              son  of  the  Indian  Premier                                                                   (IPL) but they have failed to do so.
        ALeague (IPL) 2024, MS Dho-                                                                               The Kavya Maran-owned fran-
        ni on Tuesday arrived in Chennai for                                                                  chise parted ways with West Indies
        CSK’s preparatory camp. With 17                                                                       legendary batter Brain Lara and
        days left for the IPL, Dhoni linked                                                                   brought in former New Zealand
        up with the Chennai Super Kings                                                                       spinner Daniel Vettori as the team’s
        team after guiding them to their                                                                      head coach for the much-awaited
        fifth IPL title last season following                                                                 IPL 2024. Recently, they replaced
        their 5-wicket victory against Guja-                                                                  Aiden Markram and handed over
        rat Giants.                                                                                           the captaincy to Pat Cummins for the
            Dhoni played the last IPL with a                                                                  upcoming season.
        knee injury which hindered his ability                                                                    “SunRisers Hyderabad’s story
        to run between the wickets. In June,                                                                  is very interesting. They have played
        Dhoni underwent surgery at Kokila-                                                                    with a different coach and a different
        ben Hospital in Mumbai.                                                                               captain for four consecutive years.
            Last December, CEO Kasi                                                                           2021  - David Warner and Trevor
        Viswanathan provided an update                                                                        Bayliss, 2022 - Kane Williamson and
        on Dhoni’s recovery and said, “He                                                                     Tom Moody, 2023 - Aiden Markram
        [Dhoni] is doing well now. He has                                                                     and Brian Lara, 2024 - Pat Cummins
        started his rehab and is working in                                                                   and Daniel Vettori,” Chopra said on
        the gym.”                                                                                             his YouTube channel.
            Ahead of the new season, Dhoni                                                                        “Someone said change is the
        dropped a hint at a new possible role                                                                 only constant but here SunRisers
        while expressing his excitement and                                                                   Hyderabad’s second name has be-
        wrote on Facebook, “Can’t wait for                                                                    come change. They believe a lot in
        the new season and the new ‘role’.                                                                    changing  everything.  So  they  are
        Stay tuned.”                                                                                          trying to move forward with a new
            CSK’s preparatory camp began                                                                      captain and coach combination for
        on March 2, with the likes of Ru-                                                                     a fourth consecutive year. Whether
        turaj  Gaikwad,  Rajvardhan  Han-                                                                     it  will  happen  or  not,  we  shall  find
        gargekar, Mukesh Choudhary and                                                                        out,” the cricketer-turned-commen-
        Prashant Solanki joining the camp               MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja pose with the IPL trophy  tator added.
        at Chepauk.                                                                                               The SRH franchise has won only
            CSK suffered an injury blow be-                                                                   one title in IPL so far and that was
        fore the beginning of the season as   New Zealand’s third T20I against   Aakash Chopra on changes in   in 2016 under the leadership of star
        New Zealand opener Devon Conway   Australia.                             Sunrisers Hyderabad          Australia opener David Warner. Af-
        is expected to miss at least the first   CSK will kick off their campaign                             ter that they reached the finals of the
        half of the tournament after under-  against Royal Challengers Bangalore   ormer India opener Aakash   2018 edition under the leadership of
        going thumb surgery. Conways sus-  in the first game of the IPL 2024, at   Chopra feels that the Sunris-  star New Zealand batter Kane Wil-
        tained  a  blow  on  his  finger  during   Chepauk, on March 22.    Fers Hyderabad (SRH) team                Continued on next page... >>


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