MS Dhoni Says CSK Captaincy Hurt Ravindra Jadeja's Performance In IPL 2022

Ravindra Jadeja handed Chennai Super Kings captaincy back to MS Dhoni midway in IPL 2022 to focus more on his game.

Updated on: 2 May 2022 2:37 am

MS Dhoni marked his captaincy return with a win as CSK defeated SRH in an IPL 2022 game on Sunday.

MS Dhoni, who has been reinstated as Chennai Super Kings skipper, said that the pressure of captaincy was affecting Ravindra Jadeja’s performance in IPL 2022. Dhoni led CSK to 13-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at MCA, Pune in his first assignment as skipper in the ongoing season on Sunday.

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Notably, Jadeja, who was the captain of CSK in the first eight games, passed the baton back to MS Dhoni on Saturday in order to focus more on his game. Out of the eight games he captained, CSK managed to win only two and lost six.

Ravindra Jadeja scored only 112 runs in those games at an average of 22.40, while on the bowling front, he got only five wickets.

"I think Jadeja knew last season he'd be captaining this year. For the first two games, I oversaw his work and let him be later. After that, I insisted he'd take his own decisions and responsibility for them,” said Dhoni after the win over SRH on Sunday.

"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," he added.

Dhoni added that he stopped giving his inputs to Jadeja after a couple of games as he wanted the latter to understand his responsibilities and stay involved in the game with his role.

"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. 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 toss,” said the current CSK skipper.

"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 the captain, we have to take care of lot many things and that also includes your own game."

Talking about the game on Sunday night, Chennai Super Kings posted 202/2 on the board riding on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 99 off 57 and Devon Conway’s 85 not out off 55. Later, Mukesh Choudhary picked 4/46 as SRH were restricted to 189/6 in 20 overs.