MS Dhoni's 'spark' comment was completely misunderstood by the press: N Jagadeesan

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni has made the career of many players by backing them in their early days and providing them with enough support and confidence to prove their ability on the big stage. However, the former captain was placed under major scrutiny during the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when he criticized the youngsters in the team saying that they don’t have spark in them. 

The IPL 2020, hosted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) didn’t go as per the plan for the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings as they succumbed to a forgettable season and finished at the second-least spot on the points table after winning just six games out of 12 played. Halfway through the league, the skipper Dhoni was questioned for not giving youngsters a chance in the playing XI despite the poor performance by the senior players. 

To this, Dhoni delivered a controversial statement by saying, “It’s fair enough [the criticism for not playing youngsters], this season we weren’t there. Maybe we didn’t see as much spark from some of our youngsters. Maybe going forward we bring them in and they play without pressure.”

Dhoni was subjected to a lot of flak and criticism on social media. However,  almost a year later, N Jagadeesan came forward to defend his captain and clarify his stance on the matter. Speaking about the spark controversy, the 25-year-old clarified that MS wasn’t degrading the youngsters, instead he was trying to push the senior players to give their best. 

We don’t really work a lot on the technical aspect at CSK: N Jagadeesan

The wicketkeeper-batsman added that both he and Ruturaj Gaikwad did considerably well in the league and essayed the role assigned to them properly. “What he [Dhoni] actually said was completely misunderstood by the press. It was not about the youngsters, Rutu and I did well, to be honest. What people don’t get is that he’s someone who’s trying to boost the entire team, the seniors as well. 

“When you have such legends in the team, you can’t pinpoint each of them. There needs to be a way where the seniors are backed up. For them to be backed up, something had to be done. And after his comment, we did well and the team did really well,” Jagadeesan said as quoted by India Today. 

Further in the interaction, Jagadeesan highlighted the lessons he learnt while playing his trade for the Super Kings. The 25-year-old revealed that they don’t focus much on the technical aspects while playing for CSK. They are more inclined towards looking at the senior players and trying to learn the mental aspects of the game from them. 

“The way I go about my game, preparing mentally. We don’t really work a lot on the technical aspect at CSK because we don’t have a lot of time. But learning comes from looking at the others and how they prepare mentally for a game,” Jagadeesan signed off. 

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