IPL 2022: No one in CSK to succeed MS Dhoni as captain, says THIS former cricketer

Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is back in charge at the Chennai Super Kings after giving up the role just before the start of IPL 2022. Dhoni replaced Ravindra Jadeja as the skipper of the defending champions mid-way through the season with CSK in 9th place on the IPL 2022 Points Table.

Dhoni has started off his fresh captaincy stint with a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad last weekend and faces Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the ‘Southern derby’ on Wednesday (May 4). Former Australia chinaman bowler Brad Hogg believes that there is no one in CSK side at the moment who can replace Dhoni as the next skipper.

“Who is going to take over from MS Dhoni at the end of this year? I can’t see a player on CSK’s team list that can captain this team effectively and efficiently. They will have to go to the auction next year to find a player of captaining ability, and try to find an Indian to do the job is going to be hard because all the best Indian T20 players have already been assigned to other franchises,” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.

Hogg reckons Chennai would have to find an overseas player as Dhoni’s successor. “They will have to go to an international player. It will be difficult to find a player that will fit in to the balance and the game plan that CSK already have in place,” he added.

Ready. Set. Derby!

Round 2 coming up and you can catch all the action on @StarSportsIndia from 7:30pm onwards. #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 #Mission2022 #RCB #nmmRCB #RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/kjKTBIfJAv

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) May 4, 2022

Meanwhile, the absence of pace bowler Harshal Patel the last time around the two sides met had probably rocked the RCB boat, as they lost the high-scoring game by 23 runs after conceding a mammoth 216 runs. In fact, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis too had attributed the defeat to the absence of Patel, who had to leave the IPL bio-bubble after getting the news of his sister’s demise.

“You see the value of Harshal (Patel), and what he offers. He has the ability to stop the game. We missed that (against CSK); we had a similar tone to the bowling. We lacked the variety we needed in our attack. Hopefully we can have him soon again,” Du Plessis had said after the loss.

But with Patel back in the side, RCB can hope for a turnaround, even as four-time IPL champions CSK will be buoyed by the display of fireworks from openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and New Zealand’s Devon Conway in their previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, which CSK won by 13 runs.

Super Kings and Bangalore have gone head-to-head 30 times, with CSK taking 20 wins and Bangalore getting nine wins, in addition to a no result.

As for the results at the MCA stadium so far, of the nine games that have been played so far at this venue, the team batting first has had the advantage with six wins while the team chasing has been victorious on three occasions. The average first innings score is 173.

(with IANS inputs)