Chennai Super Kings were caught in a bit of a failed experimental fiasco this season. With MS Dhoni well into the twilight of his career, CSK were one of the teams who were on the lookout for a possible captain during the IPL mega auction. However, it wasn’t their priority as the defending champions were primarily focused on reacquiring their former players as well as bringing in fresh, young talent.
However, just before IPL 2022, Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped a bombshell by announcing his intention to take a back seat and hand over the captaincy process to Ravindra Jadeja. What should’ve been a smooth transition with Dhoni overseeing matters became chaotic following CSK’s disastrous start to the season.
Chennai Super Kings had won only two of their eight matches under Jadeja whose performances on the field were also heavily impacted by the weight of captaincy. As a result, he decided to step down and handed the reins of leadership to MS Dhoni once again.
Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg pointed to the lack of quality captaincy options in the Chennai Super Kings squad and suggested that it will be very difficult for them to find an Indian replacement.
“Who is going to take over from MS Dhoni at the end of this year? I can’t see a player on CSK’s team list that can captain this team effectively and efficiently. They will have to go to the auction next year to find a player of captaining ability, and try to find an Indian to do the job is going to be hard because all the best Indian T20 players have already been assigned to other franchises,” said Hogg on his YouTube channel.
He also suggested that finding an overseas captain could probably be CSK’s best bet at this point. “They will have to go to an international player. It will be difficult to find a player that will fit in to the balance and the game plan that CSK already have in place.”
Although MS Dhoni has remained vague about his future with CSK, the four-time IPL champions will be better placed having groomed a replacement in his place instead of desperately searching the market for a makeshift captain.
Chennai Super Kings resumed business as usual in life under MS Dhoni and defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs in Dhoni’s first match as captain in IPL 2022.
