IPL 2022: MS Dhoni reveals why Ravindra Jadeja quit as Chennai Super Kings captain midway through the league

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Pune, May 2: In a little over a month after he relinquished the captaincy of his franchise Chennai Super Kings, former India captain MS Dhoni took over the reins of the side in IPL 2022 after his successor Ravindra Jadeja gave up the responsibility due halfway through the tournament.

Jadeja - who was appointed the captain of the second most successful franchise in the history of the tournament - always had big shoes to fill as he was replacing one of the legends of the game. Many believed, including CSK think tank, that the India all-rounder would usher in a new era for the franchise.

With their move, the team management, as well as Dhoni, hinted that they have started looking for the pertinent answer 'who after Dhoni'. In Jadeja, the franchise banked and gave him the responsibility of leading the side with Dhoni still around him. However, the result didn't turn out to be as everyone had expected.

Not just the team registered its worst ever run in the history of the league, with five defeats on the trot, Jadeja himself looked a mere shadow of himself in the first half of the season. In eight games, Jadeja scored a meagre 112 runs and picked up 5 wickets while his India teammates Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav were enjoying a brilliant run with the ball for their respective franchises.

It was due to a dip in his own performance which forced the Saurashtra all-rounder to step down halfway through the tournament. After winning his first game on return as CSK captain, Dhoni reflected on the entire episode and also revealed why Jadeja decided to relinquish the duties as a captain.

Dhoni claimed the team management had conveyed the message to Jadeja in the previous season itself that he'll be leading the team from next season. The legendary wicketkeeper-batsman claimed he wanted the transition to happen while he was around.

"Between me and Jadeja, he knew last season itself that he will be given a chance to captain this year. 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," Dhoni said during the post-match conference.

The former India skipper also revealed that after the first two games, he had left it to Jadeja to make those decisions on the pitch. "In the first 2 games there was information going in towards Jaddu and after that, I left it to him to decide which angle to bowl and all that. At the end of the season, you don't want him to feel as captaincy was done by someone else and I'm just going for the toss. 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."

Dhoni - who has been the captain of the franchise since its inception - also reflected upon the fact that leading any team isn't easy as it tends to take a toll on the player's individual performance and this is exactly what was happening with Jadeja as the all-rounder wasn't able to focus on his game.

"Once you become captain, it means a lot of demands come in and can affect the player's performance and occupy their mind which I think was the case with him. I think captaincy burdened his prep and performances, it meant he could not go with the bat and ball with the same intensity, we had a deep-midwicket fielder," Dhoni added further.

In the game against Sunrisers, Jadeja looked at ease for he did reasonably well with the ball. The left-arm spinner returned with decent figures of 3 overs and 15 runs. He remained wicketless as Dhoni failed to take a sharp catch of Kane Williamson behind the stumps.