IPL 2022: MS Dhoni discloses Ravindra Jadeja’s Captaincy and CSK’s win against SRH

Chennai Super Kings defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Sunday (May 1). And CSK registered their third win in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2022 season. Dhoni had stepped down from CSK’s captaincy at the beginning of the IPL 2022 after leading his side with 4 IPL trophies. Ravindra Jadeja started this season with poor team performance under his captaincy.  CSK under Jadeja’s leadership won only 2 out of 8 matches. Finally, Jadeja decided to step back from the captaincy role. MS Dhoni is back as CSK’s captain with a ‘winning game’.

Speaking after the post-match presentation CSK vs SRH, Dhoni said that the burden of captaincy affected Jadeja’s own performance. Dhoni revealed that Jadeja already know that he would be captaining CSK in IPL 2022. Dhoni was helping Jadeja for the first two games and left him to take his own decision from the third match in crucial times.

MS Dhoni discussed Jadeja’s captaincy:

“I think Jadeja knew last season he’d be captaining this year. He knew and got enough time to prepare, what is important is you want him to lead the side and I wanted that transition to happen. In the first two games, there was information going to Jaddu and after that, I left it to him to decide which angle to bowl and all that,” said Dhoni.

Dhoni also said ‘spoon feeding’ won’t help with the captaincy. Also said Jadeja has to take his own decision in difficult situations. Jadeja’s performance and mind were affected by his captaincy role.

“At the end of the season, you don’t want him to feel as the captaincy was done by someone else and I’m just going for the toss. So it was a gradual transition. Spoon-feeding doesn’t really help captain, on the field you have to take those crucial decisions and you have to take responsibility for those decisions”.

“Once you become captain, it means a lot of demands come in. But what I felt is it affected his mind as the tasks grew. I think captaincy burdened his prep and performances; it meant he could not go with the bat and ball with the same intensity. Even if you relieve captainship and if you are at your best and that’s what we want,” he added.

MS Dhoni as captain and their Winning:

MS Dhoni credited the whole team for their performance. Especially the spinners who bowled between 7- 14 overs restricting the SRH to gains run.

“It was a good score to defend. I did nothing different, it’s not like much changes with the change of captain. It’s one of those coincidences where we got off to a good start and forced the bowlers to bowl the areas where we wanted to hit. The kind of target we got was a very good one. Dew comes in so the bowling needed to be good. The spinners did well in the 7-14 over the period that was key to the win and gave a surplus of runs which we could fall back on.”

Dhoni revealed that their team is not strong in fielding compared with their batting. “We have had quite a few good performances with the bat, but we give 25-26 runs off a couple of overs, and there like, the bowlers have to try something different. I always told my bowlers, you may get hit for 4 sixes in an over, but the 2 balls that you save – ultimately in a high-scoring game – those are the 2 deliveries that will help you win the game.”

CSK scored a massive total of 202/2 against SRH. The opening partnership of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway has been recorded with a massive score of 182runs. It shows Ruturaj Gaikwad is back in form as he hit 6 sixes and 6 boundaries with 99 off 57 balls. Devon Conway remained unbeaten and smashed 85 runs off 55 balls, including 8 fours and 4 sixes. Dhoni credited the bowlers for keeping Hyderabad in control during the middle overs. That helped CSK to beat SRH by 13 runs and record their 3rd win of the tournament. CSK is in 9th position in the points table with 6 points off 9 matches.

You may also like MS Dhoni returns back as captain of CSK – ‘Ravindra Jadeja relinquished’