In all, Dhoni captained CSK in 235 of their 249 games in all competitions, leading them to two titles in the defunct Champions League T20 to go with the five IPL titles, in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Such was CSK's consistency under Dhoni's leadership, that the team finished outside the top four in just two seasons - 2020 and 2022 - while also reaching the final 10 times, including four consecutive years, from 2010 to 2013.

He also captained Rising Pune Supergiant for 14 games during CSK's two-year ban from the IPL in 2016 and 2017. In all, he led teams in 226 IPL games, which puts him far ahead of Rohit Sharma (158) on the captaincy leaderboard.

The size of the shoes Gaikwad steps into can be gauged by Dhoni's win-loss ratio of 1.461 in the IPL, a figure bettered only by Hardik Pandya (2.444) and Steven Smith (1.470) among captains who have led teams in 20 or more matches.

With 1797 runs from 52 matches at an average of 39.06 and a strike rate of 135.52, Gaikwad is currently CSK's seventh-highest run-getter. Among the first issues he is expected to handle as captain is deciding who he will open alongside, with his regular partner Devon Conway ruled out until May with a thumb injury.