Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have had a horrendous campaign in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. After their five-wicket defeat against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Thursday, the Super Kings were officially eliminated from the race for playoffs in the fifteenth season of the cash-rich league.
After a notable title triumph last season, the defending champions were expected to be a force to reckon with, but the ‘Yellow Army’ failed to replicate their success this year. Ahead of the start of the IPL 2022, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was handed over the captaincy to lead the team. But Jadeja didn’t have a fruitful time as the skipper, and he relinquished the post and handed it back to the stalwart MS Dhoni.
Now that the CSK has been eliminated from the playoffs race, the biggest question is who will lead the side in the upcoming edition of the lucrative league, as it’s highly unlikely that Dhoni will don the yellow jersey in IPL 2023.
While the search for the next captain of CSK will continue, former India opening batter Virender Sehwag has picked his choice, who can take over the role from Dhoni. Sehwag reckoned that the Super Kings could fancy handing over the captaincy to youngster Ruturaj Gaikwad with Jadeja out of the picture.
The 43-year-old felt Gaikwad has all the qualities to be a good captain, and because he leads Maharashtra in the domestic circuit, it should give him the window to lead CSK as well. Sehwag mentioned that Gaikwad has all the calmness and potential to become a good captain in the world’s toughest T20 tournament.
“He captains Maharashtra. He plays very quietly. It’s like even if he scored a century, it won’t show in his mannerisms. Even if he scores a 0, you will see the same demeanour. It doesn’t appear from his face if he is happy about scoring a hundred or sad about getting out for a duck. He has control, he is calm. He has all the qualities needed to be a good captain. He is captaining in First-Class cricket, so he has an idea how to dictate a match. Who is to be given the ball, what needs to change in the batting order… he has the idea,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
Sehwag observed that Gaikwad has all the qualities of Dhoni to lead the team well except for one, which is luck.
“Anyone can have one good season, but if he plays 3-4 more seasons, he will become a captain who can become a long-term captain after MS Dhoni. Why does the world consider MS Dhoni a good captain? Because he is cool, takes his own decision and uses his bowlers and batters well. He also has the luck factor. Luck favour those who are brave, and MS Dhoni is a brave captain. He has all the qualities of MS Dhoni, except one. I’m not sure about the luck factor,” added Sehwag.
