MS Dhoni may have quit from the post of CSK captaincy ahead of IPL 2022, but he still remains the most important player for the franchise.
It will be a unique experience to watch someone else lead CSK with Dhoni still behind the stumps. MS Dhoni's face is synonymous with Chennai Super Kings's yellow jersey and with him taking a back seat, fans will be experiencing something different.
New captain Ravindra Jadeja has said that these will be tough shoes to fill in. However, he believes that Dhoni's support will also be his side.
The man. The legacy. MS Dhoni __@msdhoni | #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/sXu3LHgnIN
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 24, 2022
Not to forget, even after quitting ODI and T20 captaincy, Dhoni was of great use to the team, in terms of planning and execution. He is expected to play same role in CSK from this season.
CSK play their opening contest against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Match 26 at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium.
Before the game, let's look at the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat for CSK.
Strength: CSK's strength for quite a few seasons has been their captain MS Dhoni. Dhoni is a match winner and is a successful captain. He understands IPL like no one else. His inputs will certainly help new CSK captain Ravindra Jadeja. Additionally, CSK have a good mix of young and veteran T20 players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Dwayne Bravo, Deepal Chahar. All of these are match winners on their day.
Weakness: Not really a weakness but CSK suddenly have a new captain at helm who got the news at a very short notice. Jadeja is an all-rounder who will now have the additional responsibility of leading the team. How will he fare, only time will tell. But history tells us that every new captain takes time to excel in this league. And Jadeja, who does not have any previous captaincy record, will certainly take time.
Opportunity: The biggest opportunity that CSK has is to play and do well without the leadership of Dhoni. We still do not know how long Dhoni will continue as the captain but what we know is that CSK will need to learn to play without him as he will go away one day from the playing XI. This is what CSK are going to learn this season.
Threat: CSK's biggest threat could be injuries. Their two players - Gaikwad and D Chahar- will be joining the squad after recovering from respective injuries. Bravo has had his issues in the past. These injuries can hit their campaign hard. They need to be aware of that and players need to ensure they are fully fit throughout the season.
CSK squad for IPL 2022:
MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja (captain), Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Subhranshu Senapati, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, K Bhagath Varma.
