MS Dhoni becomes first player to play 200 IPL matches for CSK

MS Dhoni walked out for the toss against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2022 match on Wednesday, he became the first cricketer to play 200 Indian Premier League matches for Chennai Super Kings. Overall, this is Dhoni's 230th match in the IPL as he played 30 games for Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016 and 2017 when CSK were given two-year suspension due to betting scandal. Besides MS Dhoni, only Virat Kohli has featured in more than 200 matches for the same franchise. He has played 218 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore so far since the inception of the league in 2008.

MS Dhoni holds the record for most IPL matches followed by Dinesh Karthik (224) and Rohit Sharma (222). Dhoni on last Saturday returned as captain of CSK after Ravindra Jadeja stepped down with the defending champions making a dismal start to the 15th season. Under Dhoni, Chennai became one of the most successful IPL teams since the league began in 2008 and apart from four title wins they also have five runners-up finishes.

In his IPL career as a batsman, Dhoni has scored 4,886 at an average of 39.40. He has 24 half-centuries to his name and 84* is his best individual score in the league. Dhoni, who quit as all-format India captain in 2017, has remained Chennai's backbone as a leader and wicketkeeper-batsman, as well as a huge crowd-puller in the cash-rich league. Dhoni also led Chennai to two Champions League T20 titles in 2010 and 2014, before the tournament was stopped.