Virender Sehwag has criticised the CSK management for appointing Ravindra Jadeja as the captain in the beginning of IPL 2022 and withdrawing him early from the role.
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Former India opener Virender Sehwag has come down hard at the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) management after MS Dhoni returned to the captaincy role and Ravindra Jadeja stepped down after a short stint. The all-rounder took the decision to concentrate more on his game and requested Dhoni to lead CSK. In return, the veteran wicket keeper-batter accepted the request in the larger interest and to allow Jadeja to focus on his game.
Jadeja took the decision after leading the defending champions for eight games in the IPL 2022. Under his captaincy, CSK won two out of their eight games, and currently sit at the ninth spot in the 10-team tournament. Dhoni had decided to step down as the captain before the start of the season after leading the franchise for 15-straight years. His captaincy stint in IPL 2022 started with a win before they registered a loss against RCB on Wednesday.
“The first mistake they did was at the start of the season when they announced that MS Dhoni won’t be captaining and it will be Ravindra Jadeja. I think that was a wrong decision. Also I think, if Jadeja was the captain, he should have been sustained for the rest of the seasons,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz after CSK were more or less knocked out of playoff contention after suffering a 13-run loss to RCB.
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Sehwag also pointed out the chinks in the CSK’s armour. He said that the four-time champions had anunsettled playing XI with opener Ruturaj Gaikwad hardly firing for the side. “There was no settled playing XI. Ruturaj Gaikwad didn’t score runs in the beginning. The batters didn’t score runs. In one match MS Dhoni scored. In other the match Gaikwad scored. The match where Dhoni hit boundaries in the last over, that game was also almost lost. They started poorly, then batters did not score, from there on the season went haywire. If Dhoni had been the captain from the beginning then it would’ve been better and maybe CSK wouldn’t have lost match so many matches,” Sehwag added.
However, the opening woes, looks seemingly sorted for CSK as New Zealand batter Devon Conway started his IPL 2022 campaign for CSK soon after his marriage. He has added mettle to the under-fire CSK batting line-up with the scores of 85 not out and 56 in his last two out of three appearances for the franchise at top of the order. He has, so far, looked like an ideal replacement for former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis as an opener.
