The Chennai Super Kings franchise held a special felicitation ceremony for captain MS Dhoni, who is leading the team for the 200th time in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.
The milestone was achieved when Thala walked out for the toss against Rajasthan Royals in Match 17 of IPL 2023. Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Dhoni is the first skipper in the league's history to lead a franchise in 200 matches in the IPL. He has been the skipper of CSK since the very beginning in 2008.
MSD was gifted a memento by CSK owner and former BCCI N Srinivasan with the entire squad and support staff in attendance.
Dhoni is also the most-capped skipper in the IPL, having led in 214 matches.
Rohit Sharma is next with 146 games as the captain of Mumbai Indians followed by former Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli (140) and ex-Kolkata Knight Riders leader Gautam Gambhir (129).
"Salute the King and whistle for his 200th as Thala!" CSK tweeted.
Notably, Dhoni has won four titles with CSK and is the second most successful captain in the IPL behind MI skipper Rohit Sharma.
Dhoni is still the only captain to have led in 200 or more games in the IPL. He's captained CSK in 200 games while the remaining 14 were for the Rising Pune Supergiants.
"Feels good [to lead for 200th time]. The crowd was fantastic. The new stadium is like playing in Switzerland. We have seen cricket change.
"Feels good to have survived for so long and it's a format we have to keep evolving," Dhoni said at the toss.
