MS Dhoni has decided to hand over the CSK captaincy baton to Ravindra Jadeja before the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League, the franchise announced on Thursday. However, the veteran batter will continue to play for CSK in the upcoming season.

Dhoni is the second most successful captain in IPL history as he led Chennai Super Kings to four titles. The talisman has been leading the franchise since the inception of IPL in 2008.

Dhoni has led in 204 IPL matches, including his stint with Rising Pune Supergiant, in which his team has won in 121 matches, lost 82 games. Thus, he has a winning percentage of 59.60 in the IPL.

“MS Dhoni has decided to hand over the leadership of Chennai Super Kings and picked Ravindra Jadeja to lead the team. Jadeja, who has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2012, will only be the third player to lead CSK. Dhoni will continue to represent Chennai Super Kings this season and beyond,” read a statement from CSK.

Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja has been a consistent performer for CSK in the last few years. Jadeja has been in red-hot form for CSK, especially with the bat and he will look to lead from the front. The all-rounder has been playing for CSK since 2012.

CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan revealed Dhoni was thinking about passing on the captaincy baton to Jadeja.

“MS Dhoni was thinking about it,” Viswanathan said. “He felt it is the right time to hand over captaincy to Jaddu [Jadeja]. He feels Jaddu is also in prime form of his career and it is the ideal time for him lead CSK. What will be good for the franchise must be [in the] back of his mind.”

It is definitely an end of an era for CSK as Dhoni always led with aplomb and took the franchise to greater heights during his stint.

Chennai Super Kings will begin their title defense against the previous season’s runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on March 26.

CSK Squad: Batters: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Devon Conway, Subhranshu Senapati, Hari Nishanth

Wicketkeepers: MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, N Jagadeeshan

Allrounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Dwayne Bravo, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorious, Mitchell Santner, Chris Jordan, Bhagath Verma

Bowlers: Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, KM Asif, Simarjeet Singh, Maheesh Theekhana, Adam Milne, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki.