Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin backed Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) appointment of Zaheer Khan as head coach, considering his relationship with MS Dhoni. The five-time champions parted ways with long-time head coach Stephen Fleming after a poor IPL 2026 season as well. They finally appointed Zaheer as their next head coach despite his lack of
head-coaching experience. Latest reports also suggest legendary skipper MS Dhoni had a major say in Zaheer’s appointment.

Talking about the Zaheer-Dhoni partnership on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said: “Zaheer has the ability to disagree with Dhoni. Many others, like Ruturaj Gaikwad, cannot disagree with Dhoni and suggest some other combination. But Zaheer can, and he can also put a hand on Dhoni’s shoulder and make suggestions because he was a senior player when Dhoni was the captain, and they have such a rapport.”

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“MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan get along very well. They used to get along very well even in a captain-player relationship. So, it is clear that this decision was made after Dhoni’s sign-off. What will really work with CSK is that Zaheer’s smartness and intuitiveness, along with his structure and intelligence, won’t have major differences of opinion with Dhoni. They will both talk to each other and agree,” he again shared.

Ravichandran Ashwin also believes Sanju Samson could become CSK’s new captain, replacing Ruturaj Gaikwad, after Zaheer Khan was appointed head coach as well.

“It will be interesting to see if Zaheer Khan wants Ruturaj Gaikwad to remain captain or wants a change in leadership. If what I am hearing is right, it looks like Sanju Samson might have a good shot at becoming captain. I am hearing that Sanju could get a crack at captaincy. But I don’t know how true it is,” concluded Ravichandran Ashwin.