MS Dhoni spoke with honesty and understanding about the latest captaincy shuffle within the Chennai Super Kings camp, stating the extra baggage of leadership took a definite toll on premier allrounder Ravindra Jadeja, who resigned from his role just after eight games in charge.
Jadeja’s decision caught many by surprise, but the franchise said it was a move made in the “larger interest” of the side for their remaining campaign. As CSK’s IPL 2022 playoff hopes hung on a thin rope, Jadeja ensured they went back to their most trusted man at the helm while he relieved himself of the extra responsibility.
Dhoni spoke with sympathy for his teammate, aware of how demanding the captaincy can be. While speaking to media after CSK’s recent win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, the 40-year-old said Jadeja was feeling “burdened” by captaincy, and it was affecting his individual preparation and performances.
“Once you become captain, it means a lot of demands come in. But it affected his mind as the tasks grew. I think captaincy burdened his prep and performances.
So it was a gradual transition. Spoon-feeding doesn’t really help the captain, on the field you have to take those crucial decisions and you have to take responsibility for those decisions. Once you become the captain, we have to take care of many things and that also includes your own game.”
ESPNcricinfo quoted Dhoni as saying.
Giving strength to Dhoni’s words is Jadeja’s record for the season. After two fantastic campaigns with the bat, the veteran Indian allrounder has struggled with both bat and ball. At the end of CSK’s ninth game, his run tally stands at a poor 113 runs at a strike-rate of 121.50 while taking only five wickets with an economy rate of 7.86.
By mentioning the word “spoon-feeding”, Dhoni indirectly divulged, although briefly, on him controlling the team even as Jadeja took over the captaincy. For those watching from the outside, it was evident for the first eight games that Dhoni still has an instrumental voice in the running of the side.
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When asked about the same, Jadeja had said since he stands in the deep to protect the boundaries, it made sense for him to let Dhoni make the right field settings as he gets a wider view of what the batters may be up to. However, Dhoni admitted it wasn’t the sustainable means to work as a leader for Jadeja, as at some stage he had to take his own decisions and take responsibility for their fate.
Dhoni also unveiled that Jadeja was aware of an imminent captaincy change in the franchise near the close of the previous season only, when the Chennai-based side lifted their fourth title with Dhoni at the helm.
“I think Jadeja knew last season that he would be captaining this year. For the first two games, I simply oversaw his work and let him be later. After that, I insisted that he take his own decisions and bear responsibility for them. Even if you relieve the captaincy and if you are at your best and that’s what we want,”
added the 40-year-old.
Dhoni, however, didn’t mention why he personally decided to take the captaincy badge back. If the idea at the start of the season was for him to groom a new skipper, wasn’t there a strong case for him to persist with that thought and help CSK identify and guide their next full-time captain while he is still around?
