IPL 2024: Rayudu wants Rohit to lead CSK when Dhoni retires

NEW DELHI: Former India batter Ambati Rayudu said he would love to see Rohit Sharma make a switch to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2025 and wished the Indian skipper to lead the franchise when MS Dhoni retires.

Rohit will not be leading Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024, starting March 22 as the 5-time champions appointed Hardik Pandya as the skipper of the franchise.

"Rohit can play for another 5-6 years. I want to see him play for CSK in the near future. If he has to captain, he can do it anywhere in the world. I want to see him playing for CSK in 2025. And when MS retires, he can also take over as captain," Rayudu told News24.

Pandya, who started his career with Mumbai Indians and won a couple of IPL titles with them, joined Gujarat Titans before the start of the 2022 season, leading them to the title, and the final in the 2023 season. Ahead of the 2024 season, Hardik was traded to MI and was announced as their captain.

Rayudu also expressed the opinion that leading Mumbai Indians could prove challenging for Pandya due to the contrasting setups of Gujarat Titans and MI.

"This year, Rohit should have continued captaining this year and Hardik, maybe after a year, could have been given that responsibility. Rohit is still captaining India in T2OIs. I personally feel that MI rushed into this decision but probably they know best. So, it will be difficult. Gujarat Titans had a different set-up. Captaining MI is not easy because there are so many star players in the team. There is too much pressure and not everyone can handle it," he added.

Rohit is the all-time fourth highest run-getter in the IPL having scored 6211 runs from 243 matches.