New Delhi, India

Recently, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag was asked to choose between the two young Indian captains -- Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill -- in IPL 2024. Back then, Sehwag chose Gaikwad as he felt Gill didn't get a lot of support in the Gujarat Titans (GT) camp whereas Gaikwad has a legend like MS Dhoni in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise. Gaikwad succeeded Dhoni as CSK captain ahead of IPL 2024, whereas Gill was named Gujarat captain after Hardik Pandya moved to Mumbai Indians (MI). 

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After CSK's seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), in what was match 22 of the ongoing edition at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday (April 8), Sehwag was all praise for captain Gaikwad. He lauded the CSK captain and feels that he is the perfect heir to MS Dhoni at the Yellow Army camp. The former Indian opener recalled his prediction in 2021, when he named Gaikwad as Dhoni's successor in Chennai, and also explained that a captain can either be judged on the results or by displaying his leadership skills. In addition, he exemplified his notion by saying that no one believed that Dhoni would lead a second-string Indian team to the 2007 T20 World Cup, in South Africa. However, the BCCI made him the all-format captain soon after India's surprising T20 WC triumph in the inaugural season. The former cricketer-turned-commentator has backed Gaikwad to deliver in a similar manner for CSK as well.

Talking to Cricbuzz, Sehwag said, "I had predicted this long back that he would be the captain of CSK because he had shown those signs and had the abilities. You can either look at a captain based on results or whether he has leadership abilities. And he has both. See, nobody expected MS Dhoni to win the T20 World Cup."

Also read: IPL 2024: 'We could have...' - KKR spinner reacts to his side's loss vs CSK at Chepauk

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He added, "But after he won, the expectations became bigger and then they started thinking about making him the ODI captain as well. Same with Gaikwad, results will show with time, but he has definitely shown the signs that he is cool and calm and uses his bowlers well. He is the best player to captain CSK right now."

Gaikwad stood tall in CSK's win over KKR on Monday evening. After being asked to bat first, KKR only managed 137 for 9 due to Tushar Deshpande's two-fer and three wickets each from Mustafizur Rahman and Ravindra Jadeja. In reply, Chennai chased down the score in 17.4 overs courtesy of Gaikwad's 58-ball 67*.