MS Dhoni on Saturday returned as captain of Chennai Super Kings after Ravindra Jadeja stepped down from the role midway through the season. The 40-year-old Dhoni had quit the job two days before the start of the ongoing IPL edition, passing the captaincy baton to his trusted lieutenant Jadeja. But under the 33-year-old all-rounder, Chennai lost their first four games and have won just two out of eight matches so far. They currently sit at the ninth position in the league standings. (Follow IPL 2022 Coverage)
Dhoni, a huge crowd puller in the T20 league, will be back at the helm when the Chennai outfit needs to win their remaining matches by a big margin to have any chance of making the play-offs. While many were happy seeing Dhoni’s return to the position, a few questioned Jadeja’s decision to relinquish captaincy in the middle of the season.
Former CSK star Dirk Nannes also spoke about the change in leadership and said Jadeja might have initiated the conversation after feeling the captaincy burden is affecting his individual performances. With leadership responsibility, Jadeja has scored only 112 runs and taken five wickets in the eight IPL games so far.
“I would love to know the backstory of Jadeja giving up captaincy. I would love to know how that conversation started. It would have to be Jadeja who brings it up and says, ‘Maybe it’s not for me’. I wouldn’t think he was pushed… I would think that he did the asking, knowing the way how CSK works. I don’t think he would be pushed out of the role. He maybe had a chat with MS after thinking that that might be the best thing for him,” Nannes told cricket.com.
Nannes, who was associated with Chennai Super Kings in the 2013 IPL season, underlined how captaincy comes with several additional roles and responsibilities.
Under Dhoni, Chennai became one of the most successful IPL teams since the league’s inception in 2008. He led Chennai to 121 wins in 204 IPL matches and two Champions League T20 titles in 2010 and 2014 before the tournament was stopped.
“Very unusual for someone to give up captaincy halfway through the tournament. It’s a pretty good position to have but there’s a lot that comes with it. It’s the extra workload that you get behind the scenes. It’s not just a matter of turning up to the game and pointing fingers and telling people what to do. There’s a lot more than goes into that behind the scenes,” Nannes added.
“Jadeja certainly would have initiated the conversation. I don’t think he would’ve been pushed. They might have been sitting together after the game… 3 am in the morning and back at the hotel. That must have come up and both thought it’s a good idea,” he further said.
