IPL 2022: Spoon-feeding doesn’t really help captain, says MS Dhoni after taking over captaincy from Ravindra Jadeja
MS Dhoni started his second stint as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper with a 13-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Sunday.
That’s that from Match 46 of #TATAIPL.@ChennaiIPL win 13 runs against #SRH.
Scorecard – https://t.co/8IteJVPMqJ #SRHvCSK #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/TuCa1F2mKs
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 1, 2022
A day before the match, Ravindra Jadeja has relinquished Chennai Super Kings captaincy, handing it back to MS Dhoni. Dhoni had given up the CSK captaincy before the start of this year’s IPL, with an eye to the future.
“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,” MS Dhoni said at the at the post-match presentation following the win over SRH.
“Once you become the captain, we have to take care of a lot many things and that also includes your own game. With him, his mind was working a lot. It’s not easy to control your mind, it’s the strongest feaure. Once your mind starts working, it wants to contribute more. Ok what’s the combination I can play with, who can bowl at what point of time, it doesn’t really stop. What happens is, the individual is not able to relax. Even when he closes his eyes and wants to sleep, the mind is still working.
Lauding the Li🦁ns! What a night!🥳💛#Yellove #WhlePodu 🦁 @imjadeja pic.twitter.com/lESu3lR8NE
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) May 2, 2022
“What I felt was it was having an effect on his game, when he was going in to bat or his preparation. Because I would love to have Jadeja as a bowler, batter and a fielder. Even if you relieve captainship and if you are at your best and that’s what we want.”
The idea in CSK camp was that the former captain would mother-hen his successor, allowing him to grow into the job. Jadeja has been reverential towards Dhoni and he didn’t hesitate to lean heavily on the ex-skipper for on-field decisions. However, the allrounder’s form this year – 112 runs five wickets from eight matches – prompted him to have a rethink.
“Right from the very start, between me and Jadeja, he knew last season itself that he will be given a chance to captain 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 2 games there was information going in towards Jaddu. But after that I left it to him to decide which angle… because at the end of the five games or the end of the season, you don’t want him to feel as if the captaincy was done someone else and I’m just going for a toss.
“So it was a gradual transition where I said okay this is what I’ll do, I’ll take care of the fielding angles and everything for the first two games. After that if it comes to me, no, you have to decide on your own because that’s the only way you’ll learn what captaincy is,” he said.
