New IPL Captains Get Together in Chennai (SHOCK NEW CAPTAIN)

With the Tata IPL 2024 Starting in under 28 Hours, we turn our attention to Chennai, the venue of the first encounter between the Reigning Champions Chennai Super Kings and the newly renamed Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Chennai is also the venue for the Captains Meet pre-tournament, and there are some surprising additions.

The Big News is that seemingly out of nowhere, CSK's seemingly Lifelong Captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has stepped down, with Ruturaj Gaikwad taking over. Dhoni's final game as captain was the thrilling IPL 2023 Final between GT and CSK at the Narendra Modi Stadium, where Jadeja scored a boundary of the last ball to give CSK their 5th Title.

Over at Punjab Kings, Wicket keeper Jitesh Sharma was seen in the photoshoot, rather than their Captain from 2023, Shikhar Dhawan. Jitesh is the Vice-Captain of the PBKS, and was only the stand-in for the photoshoot. Shikhar Dhawan will resume his captaincy duties for their matches.

Elsewhere, Rishabh Pant was given clearance to play IPL as a full player (not as an Impact Player as was falsely reported), he returns as captain of his Delhi Side. Mumbai's new Captain Hardik Pandya joins the shoot, as does KKR's new-old Skipper Shreyas Iyer (replacing Nitish Rana), and with Pat Cummins Captaining the Orange and Black Outfit, we will see a total of 6 New Captains of the IPL Teams this season.

IPL 2023 Photoshoot

Rohit Sharma of MI was not available for the 2023 Photoshoot, and Aiden Markram (SRH) was not available for the 2023 Photoshoot, represented by occasional Captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

This is the first Indian Premier League Season where the Indian National Team's Captain is not a Captain of his IPL Franchise.

List of new Captains for IPL 2024 :

1. Chennai Super Kings - Ruturaj Gaikwad (Replacing MS. Dhoni)

2. Gujarat Titans - Shubman Gill (Replacing Hardik Pandya)

3. Mumbai Indians - Hardik Pandya (Replacing Rohit Sharma)

4. Delhi Capitals - Rishabh Pant (Re-taking Duties from David Warner)

5. SunRisers Hyderabad - Pat Cummins (Replacing Aiden Markram)

6. Kolkata Knight Riders - Shreyas Iyer (Re-taking Duties from Nitish Rana)