'Captaincy burdened his prep and performances' - MS Dhoni opens up about Ravindra Jadeja's decision to relinquish CSK leadership

MS Dhoni is back as Chennai Super Kings captain as Ravindra Jadeja stepped down from the position midway through the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The veteran all-rounder couldn’t really embrace the leadership challenge as the four-time champions struggled under him. Even his personal performances were affected. Hence, in the larger interest of the team, the 33-year-old decided to give the reins back to the talismanic wicketkeeper-batter.

Meanwhile, Dhoni opened up about Jadeja’s massive decision following CSK’s 13-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday (May 1). He admitted the all-rounder’s performance was getting affected due to the added responsibility. The 40-year-old also talked about the drill of leadership and said ‘spoon-feeding’ doesn’t really help a skipper as one needs to make crucial decisions and the accountability for it.

“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. 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,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Spoon-feeding doesn’t really help captain: MS Dhoni

Dhoni further said that Jadeja taking over the reins of the side was a gradual transition, which he planned. “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 Dhoni further.

“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,” he added. The talismanic wicketkeeper hoped that Jadeja would be able to bring his A-game out after relinquishing captaincy.

“Even if you relieve captainship and if you are at your best and that’s what we want. We were also losing a great fielder, we are struggling for a deep mid-wicket fielder, still we have dropped 17-18 catches and that’s a matter of concern,” said the CSK skipper.

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