IPL 2020: MS Dhoni May Not Lead Chennai Super Kings Next Year - Sanjay Bangar

Former India batsman, Sanjay Bangar has opined that MS Dhoni might not be leading the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in next season of the IPL. He believes Dhoni can relieve himself of the captaincy duties and play with freedom as a player.

Chennai Super Kings finished second last at the points table in IPL 2020- failing to reach the playoffs for the first time in their history. Dhoni, who retired from international cricket in August 2020, played his last game for India in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup– he was on an indefinite sabbatical since.

MS Dhoni at the toss in the CSK’s last league game confirmed that he would continue to play for the franchise, denying all speculations of retirement from the IPL. The Ranchi wicket-keeper has led Chennai to three IPL titles.

MS Dhoni may give the captaincy to Faf du Plessis: Sanjay Bangar

Sanjay Bangar, who has worked with Dhoni and the Indian team in his time as a batting coach feels that the CSK skipper might hand over the captaincy role to his South-African teammate and play as a player without too much pressure.

The cricketer-turned-commentator believes that CSK is a team in transition, and that could happen under Du Plessis. He also observed that apart from Faf, who was the captain of South Africa before Quinton de Kock took the reins, CSK doesn’t have a strong option for the leadership roles.

Shane Watson has retired, Dwayne Bravo and Imran Tahir are at the end of their careers, there is no certainty around Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh. Hence, CSK’s best bet is Faf according to Bangar, as even in the auction pool there won’t be any player who could become Chennai’s captain.

Speaking on Star Sports’ chat show Cricket Connected, Sanjay Bangar said, “So as far as I can understand, I feel that MS Dhoni may not be the captain next year and may play as a player and give the captaincy at this stage to Faf du Plessis for the transition to happen under Faf du Plessis. Because as of now, they do not have any other option as a captain and if you talk outside the team, in the auction or in the trading, none of the teams would be releasing a player who has the capability of become the captain of CSK.”

The 48-year-old Sanjay Bangar also feels that Dhoni might have thought of leaving the captaincy of the Indian team in 2011. However, with important series against England and Australia coming up, and no real captaincy candidate ready he handled the burden all by himself before giving Virat Kohli the captaincy armband only when he felt the right time.

“As far as I know, MS Dhoni might have thought after 2011 if he should be continuing to captain the Indian team but he knew that India had quite a few tough encounters after that, we had to go and play in England and Australia and at that time there was no captaincy candidate ready.

“So, he only handled that burden and at the right time he handed over the captaincy to Virat Kohli and he also played after that,” Sanjay Bangar added.

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