New Delhi, India

On Friday (December 23), the Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auction was held in Kochi. The city hosted the 16th IPL auction for the first time ever and saw plenty of big names trigger a bidding war among the ten franchises. The likes of Sam Curran (INR 18.5 crore), Cameron Green (INR 17.5 crore), Ben Stokes (INR 16.25 crore) were the three to return with the biggest pay cheques.

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After Stokes joined the four-time champions CSK, some believe that it will give MS Dhoni a chance to hand over the captaincy to the English all-rounder, who is off to a dream start as the England Test captain. Before IPL 2022, Dhoni had quit captaincy and asked Ravindra Jadeja to lead which didn't yield desirable results. Nonetheless, will Dhoni dare to repeat the same move with Stokes joining the Yellow Army? In this regard, Universe Boss Chris Gayle gave a fitting reply.

Gayle, during his discussion on Jio Cinemas, was asked to comment on the CSK captaincy debate. He replied saying, “Dhoni. Once you are playing, you lead a team, okay? Done.”

Also read: BAN vs IND: 'He was sent to...' - Pujara on why Axar Patel was promoted ahead of Virat Kohli in 2nd Test

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Gayle further asserted, "They are two fantastic minds in the dressing room, MSD and Ben Stokes. But I think Stokes will sit back and respect MSD and let him do his thing. The young players will also get to learn a lot from Stokes. It’s good to have him and he still has the likes of DJ Bravo in the CSK ranks."

"Fitting in the culture is important and I am sure without any doubt, with his experience, he will fit in amazingly with the Super Kings. As we all knock, they lack all-rounders and will accept Stokes with both hands," added the IPL legend.

Full CSK squad for IPL 2023

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MS Dhoni, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kyle Jamieson, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ben Stokes, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Bhagath Verma