Virender Sehwag, former India opener who has played a lot of cricket with and against both MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, believes Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) decision to name Jadeja as their captain for the IPL 2022 season was a "wrong" one.
Dhoni opted to pass up the CSK leadership to Jadeja just a few days before the commencement of the IPL 2022 season. However, when the reigning champions won only two of their eight matches, the all-rounder decided to hand back the captaincy to Dhoni.
"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, it was a wrong decision," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz after CSK were effectively pushed out of playoff contention with a 13-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in Pune on Wednesday (May 4).
With only three wins, CSK is now at ninth position in the points table. If Dhoni had been captain from the start of the season, Sehwag believes the story for the four-time winners would have been different. One of the biggest reasons for CSK's dismal performance in IPL, according to the former opener, is their batters' poor form.
"There was no settled playing XI. Ruturaj Gaikwad didn't score run in the beginning. They started off poorly, the batters didn't score runs and from there on, there season was always going to be full of turmoil. If Dhoni had been the captain from the beginning, then it would've been better and maybe CSK wouldn't have lost so many matches," Sehwag added.
Dhoni's wicket in the 19th over, according to Sehwag, was vital since CSK still had a chance to complete the 174-run chase if their captain batted till the end.
"The most important wicket was of MS Dhoni. When Hazlewood comes on to bowl, he does not try to bowl yorkers or bouncers. He bowls at a length where the batters have to take a risk. It is not easy to face him with the bounce he gets from his height," he added.
Glenn Maxwell of RCB had a significant impact on the match with the ball, returning with figures of 2 for 22 in his four overs.
"I was surprised that Rayudu and Uthappa, two Indian batters, getting out to the off-spin of Maxwell. The over off whom you were supposed to score 20 runs in one over, you ended with a spell of 2-22," Sehwag added.
