MS Dhoni clinches IPL record as CSK defeat MI in opening match

IPL 2020: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni became the first-ever captain to lead a single franchise to 100 wins in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday.

Dhoni's 100th victory as CSK captain in the IPL came during their five-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2020's opener in Abu Dhabi. Chasing MI's target of 163, CSK sealed the game with four balls to spare.

Dhoni, who has led two franchises in the IPL, has a total of 104 victories as a captain: 100 with CSK and four with Rising Pune Supergiants. Gautam Gambhir, who led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to two IPL titles, won 61 matches as captain of the Kolkata-based franchise, while Rohit Sharma has led MI to 60 wins so far. Virat Kohli has 49 wins as the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), a franchise that is yet to win the coveted trophy.

The former Indian skipper returned to professional cricket after over a year when CSK took on MI on Saturday. Dhoni won the toss and put MI to bat. The defending champions were off to a decent start before Piyush Chawla ended the 46-run opening stand with the wicket of Rohit. With that dismissal, Chawla surpassed Harbhajan Singh to become IPL's third highest-wicket taker. The top two in the list are Mumbai Indians pacer Lasith Malinga and Delhi Capitals' Amit Mishra.

The same match also saw Dhoni claim his 100th catch in the IPL. Going into the Saturday's game, Dhoni had a total of 98 catches to his name in the T20 league: 94 as wicketkeeper and four as a fielder. Dhoni played as a specialist batsman and captain in a total of eight matches in the 2008 and 2009 edition. In IPL 2008, Dhoni did not keep wickets in CSK's five fixtures, and in the following season, the Ranchi lad was not behind the wickets in three matches.

Overall, as a wicketkeeper, Dhoni has the most dismissals – 134: 96 catches and 38 stumpings in the IPL, ahead of Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik (131: 101 catches and 30 stumpings) and Robin Uthappa (90: 58 catches and 32 stumpings).

Meanwhile, it is Suresh Raina (102 catches), who has the most catches in the IPL ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman AB de Villiers (84 catches), and MI duo of Rohit (83) and Kieron Pollard (82).

CSK next take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Tuesday, while MI will lock horns against KKR on Wednesday.