Watch: "Welcome Home Thala.."- MS Dhoni gets a resounding welcome with flowers and dholaks at Chennai Airport
The upcoming season of the Indian Premier League is about to start on March 31 with the match between the four-time champion Chennai Super Kings and the defending champion Gujarat Titans. The match will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
All the teams have picked some exciting players in the auction held in Kochi in December for the IPL 2023. Chennai Super Kings have also acquired some really good names. The English Test captain Ben Stokes will be part of the CSK lineup for the upcoming season.
It will be a grand combination of the two biggest modern-day all-rounders when Ravindra Jadeja and Stokes play side by side. Meanwhile, CSK, who didn't have a great performance in the last season, will be eager to make the upcoming edition grand and get their hands on their fifth title.
For that, the franchise has begun its preparation, and CSK skipper MS Dhoni has also started preparing for the season. Dhoni will play his last season, as he confirmed in 2022 that he wants to play his last season in front of the fans. Dhoni reached Chennai on March 31 to start preparing for the 2023 edition.
Welcome home Thala 💛 #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/9oCgNsyk8V
— Dhoni Army TN™ (@DhoniArmyTN) March 2, 2023
As he reached the Chennai airport, he received a warm welcome from the fans with flowers and dholaks. Even the franchise shared the video clip on their official Twitter handle with a caption of "Oh Captain, our Captain!"
Oh Captain, our Captain! 💛#DencomingDay @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/OgyC7TeSLY
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 2, 2023
MSD coming to Chennai had created a huge buzz among the fans. After a wait of three seasons, CSK will play their home games in Chennai. They will open their season with a game against GT on March 31, while at home they will play their first match on April 3 against the Lucknow Super Giants.
Notably, MSD handed over the captaincy ahead of the start of the 2022 season to Ravindra Jadeja. But things didn't go well, and Jadeja was also ruled out of the season due to injury. Dhoni took over the captaincy midway through the season. He has already led CSK to four IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, and 2021, and will look to make it five.