MS Dhoni has claimed that Ravindra Jadeja’s preparation and performances have been “burdened” by the pressure of leading a team. After Super Kings defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs, Dhoni told Star Sports that the intention had always been for Jadeja to take over as captain this season and that while he had provided his support, he did not want to actively interfere with Jadeja’s decisions.
“I believe Jadeja knew he’d be captaining this year last season,” Dhoni stated.
“I merely oversaw his work for the first two games and left him to it later. I insisted that he make his own judgments and take responsibility for them after that. When you become captain, you will be bombarded with requests. However, when the chores became more difficult, it had an impact on his mentality. Captaincy, I believe, hampered his preparation and performance.“
Dhoni thought that by relieving Jadeja of the demands of captaincy, the all-rounder’s play would improve, particularly on the field, where Super Kings had been careless, losing several easy catches.
“Even if you take over the captaincy and are at your best, which is exactly what we want. We also lost a great fielder, and we’re still looking for a deep midwicket fielder. Despite this, we’ve dropped 17-18 catches, which is a cause for concern.
“These are challenging games, and we’re hoping to come back strong. It’s critical to communicate with the bowlers.”
Dhoni also credited his bowlers, especially the spinners, for putting the brakes on the Sunrisers’ 203-run chase.
“When the spinners bowled after six overs, that was when we really clicked. We’ve had some terrific batting performances, but we’ve also bowled a number of overs for 25-26 runs, and even when you get 200, it’s really only 175-180 in 19 overs,” MS Dhoni stated.
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