MS Dhoni reacts to becoming first captain to lead a team in 200 IPL matches

MS Dhoni has reacted to becoming the first-ever captain to lead a single team in 200 matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The IPL 2023 game between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday marked Dhoni's 200th game as CSK's skipper in the Indian T20 league.

In the list of most matches as captain of a single team in the IPL, Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma is in second place having led his side in 145 IPL games, ahead of Virat Kohli, who had captained Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 140 IPL matches.

Reacting to his special record, Dhoni said," It feels good and also I feel the crowd has been fantastic. Also the fact that we started in the old stadium, it was very hot and humid. But now it feels like we're playing in Switzerland."

Mr. N Srinivasan, owner of CSK, former Chairman of the ICC, former President of BCCI and TNCA, Mrs. Chitra Srinivasan and Mrs Rupa Gurunath felicitated Dhoni with a special memento commemorating the very special 200th.

Dhoni won the toss on Wednesday and asked RR to bat at Chepauk Stadium.

"We will bowl first. It maybe slightly on the slower side, different from the first game. Dew may play a role and it might get better in the second innings. It's good to play. We have seen cricket change - how T20 was played at that point of time till now, a lot has changed.

"The crowd has been fantastic. We have had injury concerns and players were unavailable, but still we have done well. Mitchell Santner and Pretorius make way for Theekshana and Moeen," said Dhoni at the toss.

CSK bought Dhoni ahead of the inaugural 2008 season for a whooping price of USD 1.5 million, roughly INR 6 crore, at the time. Since then, Dhoni has made Chennai his home. He is associated with Chennai more than his hometown of Ranchi. Over the years, the former India captain has etched several records, including becoming the most-capped player in IPL history with 237 caps, out of which he has captained on 213 occasions, including the time at Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) when CSK were serving a two-year suspension.

CSK vs RR: Playing XIs

RR XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(wk/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal

CSK XI: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(wk/c), Sisanda Magala, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Singh