'Really did not understand that' - Shoaib Akhtar questions timing of MS Dhoni's decision to leave CSK captaincy

MS Dhoni’s sudden retirement from captaincy came as a shock to many in the cricket fraternity. It was a bigger shock for Dhoni’s fans, who got to see him as captain only in the IPL. Dhoni decided to step down from captaincy two days before the start of the IPL 2022, and handed over the duty to Ravindra Jadeja.

Dhoni had led the side for 12 years, since the inception of IPL in 2008. Since then, Chennai Super Kings have won four championships under his captaincy. Things will not be the same now. Even Virat Kohli stepped down from his captaincy role, but he declared his decision much before, during the IPL 2021. But Dhoni took the decision only 48 hours before the game and left many people thinking.

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar spoke on Dhoni’s decision and said that he did not understand the timing of the veteran’s decision. “Two days before IPL…really did not understand that, to be very honest. He is still the best player in the IPL. I think he must have been mentally tired. He must have thought of handing someone else the responsibility and playing freely,” he said on his YouTube channel.

CSK suffered a six-wicket loss in IPL 2022 opener

“Jadeja is obviously a very fine cricketer and he will try to the best of his ability to lead the team forward. But Dhoni is one of the minds in cricket that you can always count on,” Akhtar added. Jadeja had previously expressed his desire to lead the side, and Dhoni’s successor was being searched for quite some time now.

Jadeja represented CSK as the captain in their first game against KKR, which was also the season opener of 2022. In his first game as the captain, he suffered a six-wicket loss as Shreyas Iyer led his team to a victory. Electing to bowl first, KKR put CSK under grave trouble as the men in yellow lost five wickets in just 11 overs into the game.

It was Dhoni who rescued the team with his unbeaten knock of 50*, but the target of 132 was just not enough for them to defend, that too on a pitch like that of the Wankhede Stadium. The IPL 2021 runners-up took their time and chased down the score easily with nine deliveries to spare in the end.