“He is not capable of the responsibility” – Shaun Pollock gives his verdict on MSD’s potential successor Ruturaj Gaikwad

“He is not capable of the responsibility” – Shaun Pollock gives his verdict on MSD’s potential successor Ruturaj Gaikwad

Ruturaj Gaikwad

After 13 years, Chennai have finally decided to look for players who can take the baton of captaincy from MS Dhoni. However, their first choice, Ravindra Jadeja came up short and now, Ruturaj Gaikwad is being seen as a potential successor. Gaikwad has been at Chennai since 2019. He was also an influential figure in their 4th IPL victory in 2021, wining the Orange Cap in the process.

While his performances have been disappointing this season, Ruturaj Gaikwad has slowly crept back in form. Although, it is too late for CSK who are out of the competition now. Many believe that since Ravindra Jadeja could not handle captaincy for Chennai, Ruturaj Gaikwad could be next in line to lead the team after MS Dhoni’s imminent retirement. However, not everyone believes Gaikwad is up for the job.

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Shaun Pollock on Ruturaj Gaikwad and captaincy

Speaking to crickbuzz, Pollock said, “If Dhoni decides he’s not going to be around next year then I am afraid you have to go outside the camp. I don’t think Gaikwad at this stage would be capable of taking the responsibility on his shoulders particularly when there might be an outflux of all that experience. If you still have all those experience campaigners around you then you can make it work but you’ll probably have some very new wet-behind-the-ears individuals to captain and I think that would be too big a challenge for him at this stage.”

The Former South African Captain further said, “If you only go to Gaikwad, you have to give Dhoni another year, and [he needs to] really take him under his wing. What I’d want to see is a lot of the decisions that are made on the field are the two of them making it, having a discussion about what should or shouldn’t happen. In heat of the battle, [Dhoni should] be sounding him out, be putting ideas into his mind so that a year on, he takes it.”

While this season is done for the Chennai Super Kings. It will be interesting to see how they line up next year and who would lead the team then.

Also Read: “Without Buttler & Hettie”- With Trent Boult’s all-round performance, RR beat LSG; reach second spot