Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull has opined on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s failure as Chennai Super Kings captain in the Indian Premier League. The franchise’s succession plans haven’t been fruitful, with Ravindra Jadeja and Gaikwad failing to lead the franchise to success. Jadeja was removed from the captaincy midway in 2022 after the poor performance of the team. Ruturaj was given the captain’s armband in IPL 2024, but the team didn’t make it to the playoffs.
The five-time champions won the first contest against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025 and then lost four consecutive games under Gaikwad’s captaincy. He suffered an elbow injury and was ruled out for the remainder of the season, forcing the team management to appoint MS Dhoni as the leader. His return was not fruitful as Chennai suffered their fifth loss in a row. Dhoni’s magic didn’t work against the dominating Kolkata Knight Riders.
The decision-makers dropped R Ashwin and Devon Conway for the contest against Lucknow Super Giants and replaced them with Shaik Rasheed and Jamie Overton.
Chennai managed to beat LSG by 5 wickets to register their second win of the ongoing edition. Meanwhile, Doull mentioned that Chennai Super Kings are the toughest franchise to lead, with all the spotlight on MS Dhoni.
“It was tough for Ruturaj. You wanted him to play all the matches, with complete control over the proceedings. However, you will never see a captain having full control till MS Dhoni is there. Chennai Super Kings are the toughest franchise to lead in IPL. I am not saying that Dhoni is disturbing the leader, but it is because of the magnitude of leading a player like him,” he said on Cricbuzz.
Chennai will play against Mumbai Indians in their next assignment at the Wankhede Stadium on April 20.
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