Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming has revealed he had talks on imminent captaincy change in the side’s set-up with MS Dhoni even during the previous edition of the Indian Premier League. Fleming unveiled this after CSK’s 2022 season opener on March 26 that saw premier allrounder Ravindra Jadeja takeover from the legendary figure as the mark of a new era.
The former New Zealand skipper said the timing of the change – just a few days leading into the IPL 2022 – was entirely Dhoni’s call. The great wicketkeeper-batter wanted to give Jadeja a “clean slate” going forward in a period of “transition”.
“We talked about it. Something MS and I talked about even last season, during the last season. The timing was MS’ call. He wanted to give Jadeja a clean slate going into the series. It was communicated with Mr Srinivasan, and then to the team,”
he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
There were speculations that winning the IPL 2021 could be a fitting farewell for Dhoni’s longstanding association with CSK. However, the franchise retained the 40-year-old despite diminishing returns with the willow, purely because of his wealth of experience. Fleming indicated, the value Dhoni still brings to the table couldn’t have been “discarded” by CSK management.
“We 100% respect that (Dhoni’s move). It is going to be a bit of a transition period as we develop a relationship with Jadeja and also have MS there. You just don’t discard a player just because he doesn’t have the captaincy tag.
“Develop a new captain and you work with the experience you have got, and thankfully we have got quite a bit of that. This is a bit of a change, but we will work through that,”
he said.
But in the very first match of their new campaign, CSK would’ve got a reminder of the compromise they perhaps have to make on the batting front to persist with Dhoni for his captaincy credentials and groom a new skipper under his tutelage.
It would be unfair to point out Dhoni’s innings as the one to hold CSK’s wings back, especially as he produced an unbeaten 50 off 38 in a team total of 131/5 after walking in at 61/5.
But within his innings, the right-hander was placed at seven off 18 balls and couldn’t push the pace of play against KKR’s spin duo Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. Dhoni exploded towards the end against Shivam Mavi and Andre Russell, making 43 off 20 balls.
The question stands, however, could CSK have done better with a more in-tuned player that would’ve scored more runs off Narine and Chakravarthy without completely abandoning risks?
Fleming did not see through the issue along those lines, stating it is mainly the struggles of the top-order on the night that came back to haunt the defending champions. He called Dhoni’s fifty – his first in IPL for three seasons – a “positive” in what was essentially a “rusty” start by his team.
Also read 👉 Veterans Rahane, Bravo, Dhoni come good as Iyer-era at KKR starts off with a win
The coach also said CSK were a “little nervous” and couldn’t assess the conditions as well as the opposition did. That, with reason, as they lost a crucial toss earlier in the evening and batted when the surface at Wankhede Stadium was still a bit uneven and two-paced in the way it played. But once the dew settled in, KKR raced along to the 134-run target with six wickets in hand.
CSK play their next match on March 31 at the Brabourne Stadium against new entrants Lucknow Super Giants.
