Chennai Super Kings leadership saw yet another change as MS Dhoni was reappointed the captain of the franchise on Saturday. His second captaincy stint got off to a good start as the side managed to defeat SunRisers Hyderabad by 13 runs on Sunday and they now have three wins from nine games. After the game, Dhoni gave clarity on how he planned on having a smooth transition phase and how Ravindra Jadeja “knew from the last season itself” that he would get an opportunity to lead this year.
Two days before the start of IPL 2022, Dhoni had handed over the reins to Jadeja and the all-rounder led the side in eight games this season. Out of those matches, CSK won just two but the bigger concern was the form of Jadeja.
On Saturday, the franchise issued an official statement stating that Jadeja would step down in order to focus on his game and Dhoni had agreed to lead the side in the larger interest.
Speaking to Star Sports at the post-match presentation, Dhoni said: “Right from the very start, between me and Jadeja, Jadeja knew from the last season itself that he would be given a chance to captain this year. He knew about it; he got enough time to prepare. What is important is that you want him to lead the side and I wanted that transition to happen so in the first and second game, there was a bit more information going into Jadeja. After that, I left it to him to decide what angle you want. At the end of 5, 6, 7 or the end of the season, you do not want him to feel that the captaincy was done by someone else and I was just going for toss.”
“It was a gradual transition where I said this is what I will do, I will take care of the fielding angles for the first and second game, but after that if it comes, I’ll say ‘no, you have to decide on your own because that is the only way you will learn what captaincy is’. Spoon-feeding does not really help the captain, on the field you have to take your own decisions and you have to take responsibility for those decisions,” he stated further.
In nine matches this season, Jadeja has managed to score 113 runs and with the ball in his hand, he has scalped just five wickets.
Against SunRisers Hyderabad, CSK posted 202/2 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first. Ruturaj Gaikwad played a knock of 99 while Devon Conway remained unbeaten on 85.
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Mukesh Choudhary then went on to take four wickets to help CSK restrict SRH to 189/6, registering a win by 13 runs.
CSK are ninth in the points table with six points and they will next square off against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday, May 4.
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