Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has appointed former India pacer Zaheer Khan as the next head coach ahead of the IPL 2027 season. The team management announced this on the evening of September 21, while there were plenty of names hovering around the corners of social media platforms about who would be the next head coach of the Chennai Super Kings.
Proving most of the speculations wrong, the franchise announced the legendary Indian pacer as the successor to Stephen Fleming. Following CSK’s much-awaited announcement, it is revealed that the appointment of Zaheer Khan came after the former India and CSK captain MS Dhoni. CSK CEO Kasi Viswanath himself said that Dhoni pushed Zaheer’s name for the role.
MS Dhoni suggested CSK to appoint Zaheer Khan as head coach
Speaking to the Indian Express, the franchise CEO mentioned that Dhoni suggested Zaheer’s. Dhoni’s proposal was later accepted by the CSK owner Rupa Gurunath and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. After receiving nods from all concerned ends, the franchise approached the former pacer to join the team as the head coach.
Approaching Zaheer to become the head coach of CSK was not easy,y as it is claimed by Viswanathan. It took some time to convince Zaheer to take over the job.
“It was MS who suggested Zaheer, and the cricket management team, comprising Rupa and Ruturaj Gaikwad, agreed that he fits the role. He has previous experience of working in the IPL with MI and LSG, and given that, we felt he is the right choice. To convince him to take the role wasn’t easy because it took some time, but eventually he agreed to come on board,” Viswanathan told The Indian Express.
Zaheer Khan has experience in managing IPL teams
Zaheer will join the team, backed by significant coaching and back-office stints with the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He previously worked with MI as their director of cricket operations, and was the mentor and bowling coach for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Additionally, he played with MS Dhoni for the India national cricket team. So Zaheer and Dhoni both know each other very well.
More shakeups are likely in CSK
In a separate claim on the social media platform ‘ X ‘, it is said that the franchise has provided their newly appointed head coach to choose the support staff according to his own choices. AAn’X’ post, quoting Cricinfo, made this claim following the appointment of Zaheer Khan.
“Zaheer Khan has been given the authority to pick his own coaching staff for IPL 2027,” it is claimed.
If this claim turns out to be true, then there will be a lot of shake-ups in the Chennai Super Kings camp ahead of the next season of the Indian Premier League. Ahead of the IPL 2026 season, the franchise officials gave the squad a new look by adding multiple newcomers to the squad. Now, some more changes are likely to come in their coaching setup as well.
🚨 CSK UPDATE ⏳
– Zaheer Khan has been given the authority to pick his own coaching staff for IPL 2027. [Cricinfo] pic.twitter.com/kDZNJPa9Ap
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) September 21, 2026